Beginnings
by CCgirlie
Summary: Sequel to Reflections. The story of Deunan and Briareos' first years of knowing each other, and the events leading up to their romance. Appleseed universe. Rated for strong language and some adult situations.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER**: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Shirow Masamune , various publishers and companies including (but not limited) to Dark Horse Comics, Eclipse International, TOHO, and Geneon Entertainment Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

In the faint light of dawn, Deunan Knute pulled herself up into sitting position on her bunk. As they had for almost a year now, every one of her muscles ached. She would have thought that as time wore on her body would hurt less, but just as she got used to one level of performance her father would up the bar, demanding more of her. She didn't complain, but strove her best to meet his expectations, hoping that if she could just master these skills maybe he would remember that she was his daughter and be proud of her.

Up on the ceiling above her bunk was a family picture. She was nine when it was taken; next to her was her big brother Jordan, who was fifteen then; her beautiful mother, with blonde hair and large blue eyes, was in back of them next to her father, Carl Knute, who was smiling proudly, one hand on her shoulder, the other arm wrapped around his wife's waist. They had been perfect then, before that day…

Her mind blocked it out. She couldn't bear to think of it. On that day her whole idyllic world had turned on its head, and all she was left with was this odd shell of existence, a life filled with nothing but training, weapons, and uniforms; those, yes, and pain. Both the physical pain she couldn't shake, and the worse mental pain, that insisted on gnawing at her whether waking or sleeping. There was no escaping either, it was as though they had taken the place of her parents, the physical pain her father, the mental pain her mother, and they were turning her into someone she didn't like.

She didn't want to think about the past or the future, though, instead slid off her top bunk, with a grunt as her feet hit the hard, cold concrete. All around her, women twice her age were hurriedly dressing for the day. It may be Saturday, and her father may not be on base, but there was still morning PT. Pulling on a tank top, she couldn't help but wonder when here breast would come out. It was funny; the thought of growing into a woman had never bothered her before her mother's death, back when she was still daddy's little girl. She had cut off her long blonde locks a week after her mother's funeral, seeing that her father much preferred the company of his son. Lacing up her combat boots she gave a cynical little laugh, in her fatigues with her cropped hair she looked more like a boy, but it hardly helped. When they had moved to LA she'd taken up wearing boys' clothes, if her father wanted sons, he would have sons, but although he now at least talked to her, it was never in the gentle, jovial ways he used to. Now he barked orders at her, only complimenting her when it was about her performance on the training field.

Jordan was her only source of normalcy. He was the same, more or less, as he'd always been, distant, but kind. Running up to him that morning, on the parade field he tousled her hair playfully. "Fall in, squirt," he said with a chuckle. "After PT, we'll see if we can knock some time off on the obstacle course, okay?"

"Sure thing," she said with a smile that she didn't really feel, and ran off to her spot. Carl had wanted her to shave a couple minutes off her course time by the next inspection, and although she hated the idea of running through it over and over again, at least Jordan would be there to keep her spirits up.

After PT as he promised, they were out on the course. She pushed herself hard and he ran it on the side of her, encouraging her, and keeping their time on his wristwatch. "You're doing great, Deu," he said as they finished for the third time. "Let's break for a bit. I know Carl'll be proud of you."

"You think so?" she said hopefully as she dropped onto the short grass.

"I know I am," he said, playfully punching her in the arm as he sat down next to her.

"So you think he was able to get that Greek guy?" she asked her nose crinkling up a little.

"Probably," Jordan said his mood growing dark. They both knew what new recruits meant. They would both be pushed further back down the pecking order, and worse, be that much more ignored by their father. For Jordan though, this time was an added blow, he had just graduated from STC, and had had hopes that the newly opened position as instructor would have been his. After all, his stats were the highest on the base, and although he had fewer years experience than this foreigner, he also didn't have the horrible black mark of having worked as a hit man.

"Maybe we'll luck out and the KGB take him out before Dad can get to him," she said, looking slyly at him through the corners of her eyes, and evil grin on her lips. Regardless the personal nature of Verund's conversations with her father, she was an excellent eavesdropper, and had shared her findings with her older brother.

"That's so wrong, Deu," he said laughing as pushed her in the shoulder again.

"But funny," she said with a chuckle.

"You have a sick sense of humor, kid," he said with a quirky little smile in the corner of his mouth. Standing up, he dusted himself off and offered her a hand up. "Come on, let's run the course a couple more times. You still have 27 seconds to shave off, but I think most of it's at the wall, so if we can fix that, you'll be perfect."

Half an hour later, they were still out there when a Jeep pulled up into the parking lot on base. Both siblings stopped where they were, looking with curiosity, trying to get a glimpse of their new superior, but it was only their father and Verund who climbed out the Jeep. Deunan shot Jordan an evil smile. "KGB," she whispered, but then a man on a silver motorcycle pulled up into the parking lot, and her smile faded. Damn it all.

"Come on, let's show the old man what you've got," Jordan growled urging his little sister to start up their training again.

"Yeah," she agreed, no longer caring to get a good look at the new recruit. She pushed aside fatigue and pain, forcing her muscles to work through the maze of the obstacle course. She vaguely registered it as her father and the other two men approached the course, leaning up against a fence and watching their performance.

"Nothing like the KGB, eh?" Briareos muttered under his breath to Verund as he watched Deunan speed through the course. The disgust was thick in his voice. He hated the very idea of child soldier, and had never expected to find them here.

"She's not on SWAT, Briareos," Verund whispered back. "Those two are Carl's kids. Jordan's seventeen, and he's on, but Deunan just trains. She's the only kid on base, too, just in case you're wondering about that."

Briareos didn't say anything to this, but watched the two blonde-haired siblings as they finished their run. He wasn't sure what to think of this. On one hand, what the hell was Carl thinking, training his own daughter that way, but on the other, at least he was keeping them all together.

"Jordan, Deunan!" Carl barked when they'd completed. "Get over here!"

They were obedient, Jordan's face taking the Stoic nature of a soldier, but Deunan's expression was one of ill-hid contempt. She didn't make eye contact with Briareos or Verund, but rather scowled at her father, who ignored her hostility.

"This is Briareos," Carl said when they approached, "Briareos, these are my children, Jordan and Deunan."

"Pleased to meet you," Briareos said shaking Jordan's hand. Turning to Deunan he offered his hand, but found that she was still angrily looking away. "Nice to meet you too, kid," he said with a chuckle.

"I'm not a kid!" Deunan growled as she turned to face him for the first time, her green eyes filled with rage that softened only slightly as the she held his gaze for a minute.

"Deunan, laps_, now_!" Carl snapped. "And don't stop till I tell you to!" Turning to Briareos he apologized, "I'm sorry about that. Don't know what's wrong with that kid, most of the time she's got a better head on her shoulders." Jordan fought back a response to this, and remained still, his knuckles whitening.

"No worries," Briareos replied, watching as the little girl started her laps. "She's probably just having a bad day."

"Humph," was all Carl responded to this. "Well, get out on the field, you've still got to prove yourself or you'll be on the next flight back to Greece."

He still wasn't sure how Verund had talked him into hiring a man whose skills were, as of yet, only legend. But, those fears were quickly dispelled. Jordan stood on the sidelines with his father and Verund, his anger raging as in test after test, Briareos proved himself to be more skilled than anything the boy could have hoped to aspire to.

As they tested him, Deunan ran the parameter of the base. While he was within her range of view, she watched Briareos. Although she'd never admit it, he was much better than she'd have ever imagined, not only that, but he was surprisingly handsome. The sight of him gave her an odd and uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach. Just before he started on the firing range, Carl called for Deunan to stop her laps, and she sullenly went to join them. The range was her best area, and the one place she felt Carl was truly proud of her at. She knew, having observed him earlier that he would most likely surpass her here, too. Her heart was torn between wanting to watch the skills of someone with more mastery than herself, and an impractical desire to turn back time so that this intriguing stranger never arrived.

Briareos pulled out his twin PSS pistols, firing akimbo as the targets popped up. He made them all, with very well placed shots. Jordan scowled, and quietly walked off. He'd been bested; it was no longer practical to hold onto the idea that his father would give him the position over this outsider. Deunan watched her brother leave, torn between the desire to follow him and the desire to keep watching Briareos.

"Classic KGB," Carl said, with a hint of approval in his voice at the young man's prowess. "Let's go get you something to eat. This afternoon we'll see how you fare with hand-to-hand combat."

"Yes, Sir," Briareos said, putting the weapons back in his holsters and following the other two men.

"You coming?" Carl called back to Deunan, who had leaned in to examine the placing of the bullet holes.

Startled she spun around to quickly and fell over. Laughing at her clumsiness, Briareos asked, "You okay?" as he went back to give her a hand up.

She jumped up before he could offer his hand, though, hissing at him, "I'm fine." She was glad her father hadn't caught that or she'd have been back on the track running until sundown, but she couldn't help herself. He made her uneasy and she couldn't figure out why. For all the training she'd undergone, nothing had prepared her for her first crush.


	2. Chapter 2

Rather than join the rest of them in the mess hall, Deunan went off to find Jordan. It didn't take long, when he was upset she was almost always sure to find him at the gym tearing into a punching bag, and that was exactly where she found him. Leaning up against the edge of the boxing ring, she gave an exaggerated sigh. "So…guess this means we're stuck with him, huh?" she asked rhetorically.

"I'd imagine," Jordan said as he continued a barrage of punches and kicks at the hapless bag. "He's definitely got the skills."

"Yeah, but he's an outlaw. Seriously, how long do you think he'll last here?" she asked, lazily bouncing against the robes.

"Don't know," was all that he replied. He gave the bag a few more solid blows before grabbing it to halt its movements and turning to face Deunan. "I'm thinking of transferring," he said after a moment passed.

"You can't! Jordan, you can't go just cause Dad's gone crazy and hired some…"

"It's not that, Deu. It's not what he is; it's the damned lengths Carl went to to get him. I was right here, and he flew halfway across the globe to hire some guy he hardly knew anything about. You think he's gonna promote me… ever? No, he's not. If I stay here, I'll never move up. Never. I can't deal with that," he said, his shoulders bowed a little as though all his strength had left him. "I've gotten offers from other cities."

"You're gonna take me with you though, right?" Deunan asked, her eyes beginning look desperate.

"I can't raise you, Deu…"

"I don't need raising!"

"Yeah, you do, Deunan. Whether you want to admit it or not you're still a kid, and Carl, he's still your dad. You think he's just going to let me waltz off the base with you?"

"Dad doesn't give a damn what happens to me! Haven't you noticed! You're the only one he ever pays a sliver of attention to! Damn it, he'd probably be happy to get rid of me!" she almost shouted as tears filled her eyes.

"Come here, sis," he said wrapping his arms around her. "Look, I know the old man's been hard on you, but he cares, he really does. It hasn't been easy for him since mom died, and I think taking you away from him, that would just about kill him." Deunan scoffed at this, but he continued, "No, I'm serious. I think… maybe… if I leave, he'll go easier on you."

"I don't want you to go, though," she mumbled into his chest.

"Deunan," he said finally, rubbing her back a little. "It'll be a while yet, if I do decide to go, so let's not worry about it today. Deal?"

"Deal," she said, squeezing him tightly before she pulled herself away. "Maybe we'll luck out, and this Bree-o-whatever-his-name-is won't last long."

"Here's to hoping," he said without much hope in his voice. He knew that one day, and one day soon, he'd be leaving, but he just as soon not worry her any more about it until he got everything lined up. "Come on, I'm starving."

Being that it was Saturday, there weren't many people at the mess hall, and when Deunan and Jordan entered, Briareos looked up. Meeting his eyes, Deunan inadvertently blushed, casting her eyes downward and her mouth tightening into a scowl. Catching her action from the corner of his eye and looking up to see the direction she had been looking, Jordan's fist clinched.

After they grabbed their food and sat at a vacant table, Jordan leaned across and whispered to Deunan, "You'd better stay away from Briareos."

"What?" she asked pretending to be innocent.

"I saw that look, and I know you were ogling Carl or Verund," he said. "He's a grown man, and a dangerous one. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I doubt he'd even notice me," Deunan said darkly, which did not do anything to relieve Jordan's anxiety for his little sister's safety.

The truth was though, that Briareos had noticed Deunan, although not in the way she was hoping for. (He may have been a bit of a sex addict, but he was by no means a pedophile.) It was eerie the way she reminded him of Demeter. True, they looked nothing alike, and where Dee had been mostly a sweet and gentle soul, this little imp of a girl was all anger and sarcasm. He couldn't help but feel, though, that like when he was a child, most of her tough façade was just that, a mask to hide some deeper hurt. So maybe it was that she reminded him of both Demeter and himself. Whatever it was, he felt a connection to her immediately.

Deunan had been there for the rest of his tests, hanging about in the background pretending to be bored with the whole ordeal. But she enjoyed watching him fight, although she would never tell him that. He's movements were more fluid and effortless than any others she'd seen before, and she'd watched a lot of fights. Even before her mother's death, she'd always been Carl's shadow, happy to follow him around the base in Sacramento.

He fought first one opponent, then 2, then 3, and on until it was him against six. One of the six in the ring was Jordan, stretching out his muscles and glaring at Briareos with loathing. The other men in the ring didn't look much happier. They'd all heard about Briareos' sordid past, mostly gleaned from Deunan's eavesdropping, and were none too happy at the idea they'd be taking orders from someone like him.

As soon as Carl blew the whistle they attacked from all angles. Where he had quickly succeeded at all the other groups, this one was beginning to give him problems and it was no wonder, normally Carl didn't require them to spar against six opponents. He'd only done it this time only out of curiosity, seeing how far he could push Briareos beyond the normal four-opponent standard. Five had been a bit difficult, but he'd managed well enough. Now though, he was beginning to think that the addition of Jordan may have been a bad idea. At first it was the same story, but then one of the men was able to capture Briareos from behind, at the same instant Jordan slammed a punch across his jaw with force that was completely inappropriate for a sparring match. Deunan stood up, shocked that her brother would do anything so rash, in front of their father, no less.

"Time!" Carl shouted as Briareos, turned his head back to Jordan, a death glare in his eyes and spitting blood from a busted lip. "_What the hell was that, Jordan!?_" he demanded. Jumping up into the ring and he grabbed his son by the front of his collar, and hissed in his face, "You got a problem with another team member, you tell me! I fucking expected this kind of behavior from Deunan, but I thought you had half a brain in that goddamned skull of yours!" Disgusted he pushed Jordan backwards.

Behind him, Briareos was still fuming. He was beginning to wonder if this whole thing hadn't just been a big mistake. Besides Carl and Verund these men all obviously hated him, and holding back his rage at such a blatant attack went against his very nature. As it was now, his body trembled with rage as he forced his muscles to resist the urge to retaliate.

Carl turned to his newest team member and said, "That'll do, I'm sorry about the punk kid. Need some ice or something for your lip?"

"No, I'm good," he said darkly, and climbed out the ring. "If it's okay with you, I'm gonna hit the showers."

"Through that door," Carl said pointing to the back of the gym. "Look, I'm sorry, again. I should have never…"

"It's fine," Briareos growled, pushing past the other men and making his way back to the locker room.

Under the warm spray of the showers he punched the cool tiled wall. "God damn it, Dee," he muttered under his breath. "I never would have guessed this would be so fucking hard!" He had fought and killed mercilessly for years, but that one act of restraint seemed to have taken all the strength he could muster, and he was seriously considering hopping the next plane out of town.


	3. Chapter 3

Back inside the gym, almost everyone had cleared out, with the exception of Jordan, Deunan, and Verund. Deunan was still standing near the benches at the edge of the gym, but Jordan and Verund were standing a few feet from each other. After a few moments of glaring at each other, the older man covered the distance in a few quick paces. "What's your problem?!" Verund demanded.

"Nothing," Jordan hissed. "Just showing your friend the ropes is all."

Verund's fist swung up, with every intention of laying Jordan out then and there. At the last moment though, his fist halted only an inch from the young man's face. Involuntarily, Jordan flinched a little, tensing for the blow even before his own hand went up to block, it was very evident he would have been too slow, regardless. "Look, you little jackass," Verund snarled using the hand that had been about to strike to grab hold of the boy's already crumpled collar. "That guy in there, he's my friend, and I don't care how goddamn close your dad and I are, or that you're practically a kid, you pull crap like that again, I'll kick your ass six ways to Sunday, then I'll let my friend tear into you! You got that?!"

"Why'd you bring trash like that on board, anyways?" Jordan demanded, sneering on the word trash.

This time, Verund couldn't stop himself. Pushing the young man back, he clouted him squarely in the jaw. Not as hard as he'd have wanted to, because he was still holding back, but certainly enough to get his point across. Deunan started to go rush to them, but Jordan held his hand out to stop her, holding his jaw with the other hand and glaring angrily up at his superior. He didn't say anything, though. "Briareos is twice the man you'll ever be," Verund said after a moment passed. His voice was gravelly with unmasked contempt. "I know you're life isn't perfect, kid, but if you'd been dealt his hand, 'trash' wouldn't even begin to describe the kind of lowlife you'd have been, so don't you dare fucking judge what you don't understand!"

"Whatever," Jordan said pushing past him.

"And that's why Carl was perfectly justified in choosing Briareos over you for this job," Verund called after him. "You always lose you cool, and you can't do that while you're training men to keep theirs."

Jordan didn't say anything to this, but walked out the gym. Minutes past and Verund and Deunan stood frozen, he watching Jordan retreating, she fuming as she stared at her father's friend. Turning slowly to her, his voice softened a bit and said, "I'd appreciate it if you took it easy on him, too. He may seem like a brick wall, but he could use a friendly face around."

"Whatever," Deunan said darkly, and turned to follow her brother's path.

"You kids need to broaden your vocabularies," he muttered under his breath and leaned up against the edge of the ring, waiting for Briareos to get out the shower. He still remembered when he'd first met Deunan. She'd been four, the same age he'd met Briareos at, and she'd been an adorable child. Innocent and sweet in ways that even Demeter had never been, but all that had changed that afternoon almost a year ago.

He'd been there that afternoon, arriving with the CSI team. Carl had been angrily shouting over the phone at one of his superiors, demanding information that could not possibly be obtained at that time. His face was contorted in rage and pain, his eyes not leaving Jena's body. It wasn't him that shocked Verund most, though; it was Deunan. She was standing in front of her mother's body, her eyes wide and her face blank. There was a sheet covering her naked body, and the men in the background were talking a bit too loudly about the possibilities of rape. The blood from her body had soaked the white sheet, making a gory contrast. "Come on, Deu," he had said, putting his hand on her shoulder and trying to gently lead her away.

She turned her head to face him slowly, her eyes tearless and cold. "Get your hand off me," she growled slowly, emphasizing each syllable. He had backed off a bit, giving her space, but hoping that the change he'd seen in her was only a temporary result of the trauma. It wasn't the case though, and from that afternoon it was as though the happy, loving child that he had known for six years had been replaced with a mechanical replica.

A few months after Carl had transferred to LA, he called Verund, offering him a job, and the Russian had hoped that the time and change of scenery would have helped to heal the little girl. That wasn't the case, though. He'd been horrified at first when he joined the team, seeing Deunan in fatigues, pushing herself to the limits everyday. Just like Briareos, he'd been reminded of the years he'd spent in the KGB camps. He hadn't been able to protest all those years or he would have blown his cover, but he argued with Carl over the treatment of his daughter. It was pointless, though. Both he and Deunan had taken up their roles in this odd father/daughter relationship, and seeing that neither would be swayed, eventually he gave up blatant disputes.

About fifteen minutes after Deunan left, Briareos walked out the locker room, a towel wrapped around his neck, now sporting a rather swollen lip. "You waited. I'm touched," he said sarcastically.

"Didn't have anything better to do," he said with a shrug, "it's my day off. How's the lip?"

"Sore," he replied bluntly. Almost every time he got hit in the face, his lip tore there though, ever since he was a child, and he'd come to rather expect it. He couldn't even remember the first time his father had busted his lip, but he had always assumed that the scar tissue there had just never healed properly. It wasn't the force of Jordan's blow, or the fact that he'd drawn blood that pissed Briareos off the most, it was the memories that tearing that old wound always provoked.

"You ought to put your pride aside and put some ice on it."

Briareos just grunted in reply shifting his bag on his shoulder a bit as they walked across the base towards the men's barracks.

"I can't believe you're staying here," Verund said as they entered the quarters. Normally SWAT members only stayed at the barracks while they were on duty, opting apartments in town when they could get away. There were a couple exceptions, who chose to live there full time, but it was pretty rare.

"I'm a little broke at the moment," he said. Not completely, but the money he'd given the Grecian prostitute.

"You know you can stay at my apartment."

"It's okay. I'd prefer it this way," he said throwing his bag into an empty locker and padlocked it shut. He had grown up in barracks and in truth it almost felt like going home to stay in them again. It didn't matter that the other men on base hated him, he had never been well liked; feared, yes, but not befriended. Except by Verund, and Briareos wasn't about to impose him by moving into his home.

"Want to see the town? The nightlife here is pretty good," Verund offered, looking out the window at the sun as it started to turn the horizon violent shades of orange.

Briareos nodded, he'd actually been thinking of going out that night; alone, though. He'd given up one of his diversions, but there was no way he'd survive without some escape from reality.

Briareos had insisted they drive separately with the barely cryptic statement that he may get "distracted." Having known the young man for years, Verund simply shrugged this off. One day maybe Briareos'd been done with his wild streak, but Verund wouldn't be the one to force it on him. After all, it wasn't as though he were one for monogamous relationships, either. Who knew, maybe he'd wind up "distracted' by some beautiful young thing, too.

The bar they stopped at was rather crowded, but the atmosphere was relaxed, and Briareos was glad they'd gone there than the numerous nightclubs they'd passed on their way down the strip. Girl's who went to sports bars, while more difficult to pick up, were also usually considerably better in bed, even when he factored in the extra work at getting them there. For a long while, though, both men were contented to order longnecks and sit at a table against the wall, drinking, talking, and surveying the possibilities around them.

It was during a lull in their conversation that Briareos saw her staring at him. At one of the pool tables, a tall brunette watched him with seductive eyes as she chalked the pool stick, running her fingers down the shaft suggestively. He gave her a half-grin, his lip still aching a bit from earlier. She silently mouthed, "Come see."

"If you'll excuse me," Briareos said to Verund as he stood up, "I think I've just found my distraction."

Verund just chuckled a bit, and leaned over to talk with the group of women at the next table. A couple of them would be just the kind of entertainment he'd like for the night.

As Briareos made his way to the pool table, the brunette walked forward a little to meet him. Her steps were fluid and slow, and her every move screaming out her desire, as her eyes held his. In the back of his mind, Briareos couldn't help but thinking that, if this was how all hot women behaved in American bars, he'd have to make a habit of going more often. Having to chase women was fine, but on days like the one he'd just had, it was highly overrated.

"I'm Kira. So," she said, her voice low but forceful, "is there anything I can get for you, Mr…?"

"Briareos," he said, putting running his hand up her forearm. Her olive skin was warm beneath his fingers.

"That's really long," she said with a chuckle, "could I, maybe, call you Bri, instead?"

"No," Briareos objected, the small grin that had been playing at the corners of his lips vanishing.

"So where are you from, Briareos?" Kira asked. If his coldness about the nickname had bothered her, it didn't show. "You don't sound like you're from around here."

"I'm from Europe," he said, slightly enjoying the feeling of her fingers as they ran his chest, but wishing they could just get all these formalities out of the way. "Greece," he added hoping to clear up any further discussion, on that subject at least.

"What happened to you lip? You a boxer or something" she asked. She closed what little room there was between them, and gently traced her fingertips over the uninjured part of his lower lip.

"Nah, I'm on SWAT, it was a training accident," he said kissing her fingertips and giving them a playful nibble.

"Oh, a cop. I love men in uniform, they're just so dangerous."

"Dangerous, you say?" he teased, his fingers running through her long raven locks.

"So you want to play?" she asked, letting the inside of her left thigh slightly graze Briareos' knee.

"What did you have in mind?" he asked, looking over to the pool table and seriously hoping that was not what she was thinking.

"Well, I'm in the middle of a game here," she said, her fingers running up and down her pool stick, "but maybe you'd like to play _with_ me." She bit her bottom lip. "And afterwards, who knows, if you're good enough, maybe we can find something else to play."

He gave her a sly smirk and wrapped his arm around her waist letting her lead him back to the pool table. They wound up staying there two more rounds. She joked and talked with the other women she'd gone with, but gave him enough attention that he still knew it was a sure thing. For his part, he remained mostly silent, enjoying the feeling over her body against his as he leaned over to help her line up her shots.

"There's a hotel on the next block," Kira said, as they walked out the club, his arm over her shoulder and hers wrapped around his waist. "I'd take you back to my place, but my friend, Christi's, driving."

"A hotel is fine," he whispered into her ear. Anywhere was fine, really. He didn't have much money, but this was necessity talking, and he could spare a bit.

As far as performance went, the sex was good, not great, but good. It wasn't that that bothered him as he watched Kira sleeping; it was the fact that the whole ordeal had left him feeling…something. For the first time in his life, there hadn't been that wondrously mind-numbing sensation that sex normally brought about. The whole time, his mind kept playing back to her friends and the fact that friendship somehow indicated personhood and personhood somehow made this how ordeal a bit wrong, somehow. It was as though he were just using her. But he was; that had always been what sex was, using and being used; so that whether for minutes, hours, or even, on one case, an entire day, life would disappear. In those fleeting moments he would forget himself, forget all the horrible things he'd done and just… exist.

Carefully, he climbed out of bed and dressed, watching as she shifted a bit in her sleep. He tried, desperately tried, to get those existential ideas out of his head. He tried to repress an odd feeling of guilt, not even sure where it was coming from. "She enjoyed herself, why feel guilty about that," he thought, pulling out some money for her cab and laying on the nightstand.

As he opened the door, it creaked. Briareos was about to slid out, when Kira sat up groggily. "Briareos?" she murmured, her eyesight still a bit blurry, and the room dark.

"Yeah," he replied. Damnit! He hated it when they woke up too soon. "I'm just gonna go run and get us something to drink."

She nodded lying back down when her eyes fell on the nightstand. "Briareos," she called out again, this time her voice more forceful. He turned around. "What's this?" she flicked the money between her fingers.

"Um…I just… I forgot it there," he stammered, wishing he'd had a better alibi planned out.

"_You were going to leave_," she said incredulously.

"I… uh."

"What do you think I am, some two-bit whore!?" she shouted, pulling the blankets tighter over her chest.

"It's not that…" he said, going back into the room, hoping he could get her to shut up before security arrived.

"What was it like!? Huh! Tell me, you goddamnit bastard! What the fuck was it like!?" She threw the money in his face. "One night stands, I can deal with. Being paid off like a fucking hooker… God damn you! Get the fuck out of this room!"

He didn't have to be told twice. Leaving the cash on the floor he stalked out. Had this been a week before… hell, three days before, he would have shown her first hand how dangerous he could really be. Now though, through a haze of guilt that hadn't yet subsided, he suddenly felt, ashamed.

Walking back down the sidewalk in the balmy night air, his mind kept replaying all the events of that day. Before he got to his bike he stopped at a little liquor shop and bought a bottle of vodka. It had been years since he'd felt as crappy as he had that day, and for the second time, he was beginning to think he'd never live up to his promise to Demeter.


	4. Chapter 4

Deunan shut her eyes tightly, but the lights in the barrack crept through the second she relaxed even a bit. She had put her pillow over her head trying to block out the light and sound, but it didn't help. It seemed that all the women in the barracks had one thing on their mind, and they had every intention of staying up all night to talk about it, or rather him.

"God, he's so _hot_," Dahlia said.

"What?! And that accent, man, that accent!" Jean replied.

"Hey, Deunan, you remember anything else Verund mentioned about him?" Christine called out.

"ARGH!" Deunan shouted, taking the pillow off her head and throwing it as hard as she could at the group of women. They muttered some apologies and teased her about her temper, but she didn't listen much to them, climbing off her bunk she wearily pulled out her Colt and her cleaning kit and stalked out the barrack. Her eyes were still a little blurry from needed sleep, but she didn't really need to see to clean her gun. She knew her weapon well enough that she could sit in the almost complete darkness of an old oak, resting up against its thick trunk as she laid out a small sheet and quickly disassembled her gun. Her mind wandered back to the discussion the women had been having. She still wasn't sure what to think of Briareos, he evoked such odd feelings in her. She knew, though, that she didn't like having to listen to the other women talk about him like they were, though why that should bother her, she wasn't sure.

As if on cue, a few moments later, there was the distant sound of a motorcycle. As it got closer to the base, Deunan peeked out from the shadows a bit, to see if it was really him. She had assumed that he'd been staying with Verund or getting his own apartment, so his appearance back on base shocked her a little, as she strained to see all the way to the parking lot.

Briareos tucked his helmet under one arm, the other hand clutching the bottle of vodka he'd purchased. He wanted to just find somewhere he could sit, think, and get completely shit-faced. The giant oak tree looming in the distance seemed to be calling him. He stalked over to it and sat down, not realizing Deunan was on the other side. Looking down at the bottle of a moment he prayed at least this would help settle his head, which was still clouded with unnerving feelings of guilt and shame. He started into the vodka with earnest, closing his eyes briefly, relishing the burning feeling of the alcohol that seared his throat.

On the other side of the tree, Deunan pressed herself hard against the tree when she saw Briareos approaching. Her heart beat wildly, even as she forced her breathing to slow. Now how was she going to get back to the barracks? She'd seen the bottle in his hand, and that reminded her of Verund's words earlier that day, asking her to go easy on his because he wasn't as hard as he seemed. She sat there for quite a while, listening to the swish of vodka, unsure what to do. She was torn between staying there until morning or informing Briareos that if he did need a friendly face, there were more than enough women in the barracks who would love being with him. What she found herself doing though completely surprised her. Quietly creeping around the tree she crouched down next to him and said, "Hi," with a shy smile.

Briareos glanced up at her, a bit surprised to see her. "Um... hi," he replied, taking another swig of his vodka. "It's late, kid, you should be sleeping."

"I told you already, I'm not a kid!" she said angrily. "And if we're not on duty, we can stay up all night for all Carl cares. Hey, mind if I have some," she gestured to the half empty bottle.

Looking between the bottle and Deunan with a raised eyebrow, he replied, "No! What are you, like ten?"

"I'm _eleven_!" she growled and made a swipe for the bottle, but he held it out of her reach.

"I don't think so. Your father would kill me," he said. His mind was a little hazy, but not nearly enough to be intoxicating his new boss' kid.

"I already told you, Carl doesn't care what I do," she said, plopping herself down on the grass next to him. "So… bad night?"

"You could say that." Briareos capping the vodka and tucking it behind him, concerned the kid would try to swipe it if he kept drinking. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with. What're you doing out here, anyway?"

"Cleaning my Colt. The other women were…noisy. I couldn't have slept even if I'd have wanted to. So, you like homesick or something?" She stole glances at him through the corner of her eyes, but didn't turn her head from the grass blades she was plucking and tearing up.

"What home?" Briareos shrugged. "So why are you training with the team?" It was more than obvious that the little girl wasn't leaving any time soon. So much for getting plastered, he thought to himself.

"Nothing better to do," she replied, trying to make it sound convincing. She wasn't about to tell him that she was trying desperately to get her father's attention. "I guess you traveled around a lot in your... um... line of work."

"Yeah." Briareos wasn't comfortable telling a little girl about what he did for a living. "Though I think I'll give this SWAT thing a chance." Anything's better than being a hired gun, he thought.

"It's a big change, though…" she said before she could stop herself. She still hoped that he would leave so that Jordan would stay, but somewhere else, deep inside her, she hoped he just ignore her hostilities and stay on.

"Yeah. I'm less likely to die." Briareos glanced at her, trying to read her face, though the dim light and his alcohol-laden mind weren't making it easy. He began to wonder, not for the first time that day, just how much the girl knew about his past. "I came here because I was offered a job, kid. I didn't come to show up your brother."

"How did you...?" she began to ask before she could help herself, completely ignoring the 'kid' comment, in her shock that he'd known what she'd been feeling. She fell into a sullen silence, pulling her arms around her knees and looking up at the stars.

"It's obvious that you're upset about it. You don't live long in my line of work without being able to read people," Briareos explained. "I didn't come here to ruin your life, or your brother's. If you've got problems with your dad, take them up with him."

Standing up Deunan said, "I don't care what Jordan does! Let him leave! I can take care of myself! I don't need him! I don't need anyone!" Her voice cracked a little with the last statement, but there were no tears in her eyes. Turning angrily, she went back to the place where her gun laid and started putting all the pieces back together at a rapid pace. She hated Briareos; hated him for reading her almost more than she hated him for besting Jordan. Since her mother's death she'd successfully blocked most people out her life, building a protective barricade around herself, and here this complete stranger came in and saw straight through her.

Briareos nodded a little, listening to her and feeling the faint stirrings of protectiveness in his chest. "I see," he said just loud enough that Deunan could hear him on the other side of the tree. She had a chip on her shoulder to match his own, he realized, and that was a sobering thought. "You might not need them, but they are your family," he murmured when she turned to glare at him.

She sneered as she got up and walked back to the barracks. Stopping beside him for a moment she glared down and him and said icily, "My family is dead."

"So's mine," he replied softly to her back as she started walking away.

Even though she was trying to tune him out, she'd heard that and felt the pain in his voice. She halted for a moment, turning slightly. "I'm sorry," she whispered. As she walked away, she had no idea how much he'd just opened up to her, but she knew that he had definitely damaged the wall around her, and that was frightening.

The other women had all gone to sleep by the time she climbed back into her bunk. Her mind played on the things they'd talked about that night. As she drifted off she lingered on his last statement. Somehow she knew he hadn't meant it the way she did. His whole his had actually died. She shivered as she thought how alone he must be. She still hated him for taking Jordan's job, but she felt also felt a connection to him, like even though they were both alone, they were alone together somehow.

When she'd gone inside, Briareos uncapped the bottle, but found that the liquor wasn't helping. He'd been a bit touched by her sympathy, and although he still felt like crap, her last words did more to calm his mind than the booze had. Recapping the bottle he tucked it under his arm and headed back to the men's barracks.


	5. Chapter 5

A month had pasted since Briareos arrived at LA SWAT, and as the time went on, he gradually gained the respect and acceptance of the rest of the people on the team. Whatever he may have been before, now he was a patient instructor during training and a clear-headed leader on missions. As the weeks went by, even Jordan came to accept the fact that his father had made a good choice in hiring Briareos, although he never would have admitted it.

Deunan, for her part, was a little warmer to Briareos, but only when she didn't think Jordan or any of his friends would be watching. This fact didn't go unnoticed by the women who lived in the barracks with her, though, and Christine made it her personal mission to rag the girl until she admitted her crush. As much as they teased her, they all would have given just about anything to have him take an interest in them. Much to their dismay, though, he didn't seem interested in dating at all. In fact most of their advances were met by awkward attempts to keep them away. Being that all the women were so infatuated with him, Briareos' ignorance of them actually won him a little more favor with the guys, as it meant that they still had a shot with some of their hotter teammates. The women had debated the reason for his coolness towards them, with reasons ranging from his possible virginity or sexual orientation; but one of the gay guys on the team informed them that, "No, sadly he doesn't go that way." That being the case they assumed the former and all tried their best to be his "first."

Briareos was a bit overwhelmed by this outpouring of attention from the women on the team. Normally, he'd have been in heaven with that many hot women at his beckon call, but even since his first night in LA, he'd been trying to change his ways. He'd thought a lot that night, about the man he'd become and the one he thought Demeter would have wanted him to be, and he'd come to the conclusion that she'd have been appalled by his treatment of the other members of her gender. Of course, this left Briareos in a rather odd position. He didn't know how to strike a balance between raw sex and gentility, and he'd never had a real relationship. It was no wonder that he found dealing with them overwhelming, the second he'd find himself loosening up and actually flirting back, he'd realize it, then panic, clam up and make a hasty exit. Some of the women found this adorable, but others like Christine, just saw it as juvenile, which only added to her teasing of Deunan. "After all," she'd say, "by the time he actually works up the nerve to have sex, Deunan will be the perfect age. 30."

Although Deunan had assumed that all of Jordan and Carl's problems had begun with the arrival of Briareos, she was mistaken, and although he no longer resented his father for hiring the foreigner instead of him, he was butting heads with his father more and more as the month wore on. Jordan had just gotten back from leading what was supposed to be a routine mission, to break up a gang fight that had escalated into a situation too dangerous for the regular police. A situation arose where Jordan had to seriously risk the lives of his men to save civilians. Protocol would have called for him to take the safest road, trying loss of life down to a minimum for both SWAT members and civilians, but Jordan chose to take the risk, putting himself and his men in a precarious position. They all made it out alive, and in the process saved the civilians and disabled the enemy, but although Carl was pleased the outcome, he knew he had to come down on his son for his recklessness.

"You put your entire squad in danger!" Carl roared across his desk at his son, who stood at attention, barely suppressing a sneer. "I don't care if it all came out okay, because it sure as hell could have gone the other way! Luck isn't something we base our decisions on!"

"Is that all, Sir?" Jordan asked coldly, after a few moments of silence.

"No, it's not! As of this moment, you will no longer lead missions," Carl replied feeling this was the only just punishment for Jordan's indiscretion.

"_That's not fair_!" Jordan growled. "_I saved lives today, isn't what this fucking job is all about_!"

"Don't take that tone with me, boy! You could have just as easily lost every one of those lives you saved with that maneuver. If you don't like my decision, you can pack your bags."

Deunan was in the closet on the side of Carl's office listening through an air vent. The two men were being so loud, though, that she most likely would have been able to hear just fine if she'd been three rooms down. Her eyes grew wide when her father told Jordan he could leave if he wanted to. He couldn't… wouldn't do that, would he? He wouldn't leave her.

"Consider them packed!" Jordan threw back. "I've been offered a position with the Border Patrol at El Centro! This is my two weeks notice!"

"_Two weeks notice_!" Carl scoffed. "I want you off the fucking base this afternoon!"

"Fine!" Jordan sat with finality and stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

Deunan was at the door and he almost knocked her over when he stormed out. "Jordan, you can't leave!" she pleaded, even as he pushed past her.

"I've got to, Deu," he said without looking back at her.

She followed behind him as he hurried angrily to the men's barracks. She was so overcome by the idea of being left by him that she didn't care that everyone could see her, and continued begging him to stay. "Jordan, please! You can't leave me here with him! He'll calm down, just give him some time! You were right to make that call! He'll see that soon, you just have to stay!"

He didn't answer her, but marched into the barracks, stuffed the majority of his possessions into a duffle bag, the whole time with her trying to talk him out of his decision. When he was done packing he finally addressed her. "Look, Deu. I know you want me to stay but I can't. I'm drowning here, and there's no way out. I've tried to be what dad wants me to be, but I can't. No matter what I do it's wrong! I love you, but I've got to get out of here!" When he finished, he seemed completely drained and tired. Looking down at her sad eyes, he gave her an apologetic smile, ruffling her hair. "Hey, it's not like you'll never see me again. I'll be just an hour or so down the road." Then seeing she wasn't going to make this any easier for him, he went around her and walked quickly out to the parking lot.

She stood there for a moment in shock. It was the sound of the door, as it shut, that woke her from her reverie. She jumped a little and ran out of the barracks, and straight into Briareos. "Whoa," he said, steadying her, but she pushed past him, rushing out after Jordan. Having heard about Carl's anger over the day's mission and seeing Jordan's duffle bag, he guessed her problem immediately and rather than going into the barracks as he planned hung off near the door, watching from a distance, hoping that her hardheaded brother would do something to ease her suffering.

"Take me with you!" Deunan almost sobbed, though there were no tears in her eyes. "I won't get in your way, just take me with you!"

Jordan threw his bag in the back of his truck and turned to her. His face was a mixture of anger, sorrow, and pain. "I can't be a parent, Deunan! I can't take care of you!" he said harshly.

"I don't need taking care _of_!" she pleaded.

"Yes, you do," he said, climbing into the truck and shutting the door.

She thought about banging on the window or throwing herself on the hood, but she knew it would be no use. Jordan was going, he was leaving her behind and nothing she could say or do would change that. Just like when her mother died, she stood there, letting the moment wash over her, accepting the fact that she was small and powerless against the hand of fate. The sorrow flooded over her in waves, but she didn't let it sink in. It took a while for her to suppress these things, but she always could, if only she stayed very, very still until this pain passed.

She watched the truck drive off, almost without seeing, her vision growing blurry as she forced herself to relax. Suddenly, though, everything crashed into focus with the sound of her name. "Deunan," Briareos' voice came from behind her. He knew the pain she was feeling all too well, but wasn't sure what to do to help.

Her eyes narrowed, it hadn't really mattered who it had been that disturbed her; anyone who had would have felt her wrath. The fact that it was him though, the one who she had originally felt had caused the rift between her brother and father that made his interruption inexcusable. Reeling around to face him, her eyes were filled with rage. "This... this is all your fault!" she screamed, quickly closing the distance between them. She punched him as hard as she could in the chest. "Everything was fine before you showed up! I wish to God the KGB had killed you!" she shouted and pushed past him.

He wasn't surprised that she'd lashed out at him, and having made peace early on that the little girl knew way more about his life than he was normally comfortable with, wasn't at all surprised that she'd used what she had imagined was the most hurtful thing she could have against him. He was surprised though, by the force of her punch, which almost knocked the wind out of him. He reached around and grabbed her wrist, not wanting to hurt her, but not wanting her to have to bear this alone. "Go run the obstacle course," he ordered, his voice a bit softer, though, than it would have been with any other person who dared cross him.

"No!" she hissed, struggling to free herself from his grip.

"You don't have the option of 'no'," he growled, more to frighten her into obedience than from actual anger. "That was an order, Knute. Go!"

"I hate you!" she spat back at him with venom as he let her wrist go, but she obedient although she stomped all the way there, Briareos following behind her more sedately.

He watched to make sure she'd started them off well, breaking away for only a moment to grab a bottle of water, and very pleased to find on his arrival that she was still running the course, looking much more sedate for her exertion. He'd found over the last month that a hard workout did almost as much to clear his head as sex used to. As an added plus, rather than simply repressing the thoughts to have them pop up later, working out allowed him to think through them more rationally. Overall, he'd become quite a fan of using it to unwind, and was happy to see that it was having a good effect on Deunan, now. "All right, Knute, take a break," he called, holding up the bottle of water.

Eyeing him with a mixture of anger and suspicion she took the water bottle and examined it. "What's this?"

"Water," Briareos replied, smiling a little at her suspicion. "Never been opened."

She watched him out the corner of her eyes as she cracked the seal and took a gulp. "Thanks," she said, wiping her mouth on the back of her arm. "I still hate you, I hope you know that."

"I can live with that," he said with a shrug. He watched her as she drank the water, trying to figure out what to say that would make things better. He'd started to feel protective of her, as if she was Demeter and he had another chance. "He still loves you, Deunan," he finally settled on saying.

"No," Deunan said resolutely. "He doesn't. If he loved me, he'd have taken me with him." Her eyes were cast down. A small part of her knew that she was being childish, but she couldn't help it. It seemed as though she was now completely alone.

"It's safer for you here than anywhere he's going," Briareos replied softly. "Trust me."

"Why should I trust you?" Deunan said, her heavy with sadness, but her eyes filled with anger. "You're nothing but a murderer." And she turned and walked away.

"I had a little sister," Briareos said before he even realized why he was saying this to her. "I tried to keep her safe so she didn't see what I did."

"And now she's dead," Deunan said a more harshly than she would have done had she not been hurting so much herself.

"Yes, she's dead," Briareos glared at the girl. "She's dead because I couldn't protect her."

Deunan's face softened a little at this, the weight of his words sinking in. "Well, if you could even protect her, what the hell would you know about keeping me safe?" Deunan hissed, but much of the anger had left her voice. She knew it was a low blow, but she couldn't stop herself. She had to hurt someone.

Briareos sighed; she just didn't get it. "It's safer here for you than wherever he's going. He can't take care of you out there," he said, shaking his head sadly. "He'll have a hard enough time keeping himself alive."

The idea of the possibility of Jordan's death had never crossed her mind. Even after losing her mother, and watching him go out on hundreds of dangerous assignments, he still had seemed immortal somehow. When he said that, her eyes began to stick, her body shook with rage and fear but she was unable to form words. In the corners of her eyes, for the first time since before her mother's death, tears formed. Turning away quickly she ran off towards the weapons locker, where she hoped she would be left alone.

He didn't follow her, unsure what he could say or do that would make her see things clearly. Hearing her words had cut him deeper than he let on, it was the first time anyone but Verund had talked to him about Demeter's death, but her words didn't hurt him as badly as the pain he'd seen in her eyes. It hadn't been his intention to hurt her, and he had no idea how to make it better. He wished that Carl would get his head out his ass and do some parenting, but that was a hopeless case, none of Briareos or Verund's other intercessions for Deunan had worked.

There was a redundant storage area in the back of the weapons locker, most often used when couples wanted to sneak away for a bit of fun. Crouching down low on the side of a shelving unit she leaned up against the wall and buried her face in her hands. Her body shook with tears that would come no matter how hard she tried to hold them back. She couldn't understand this, when her mother died she'd been able to suppress all her sorrow and pain, but Briareos was able to bring her tears with the mere idea that Jordan would die. She wondered if this made her a horrible person, the fact that her mother's death hadn't invoked tears, but this had. She'd hurt as much both times, but of some reason, she was able to contain her grief before.

She stayed like that for over an hour, crying sporadically and thinking continuously. She tried to wipe her eyes dry before she left, gather herself together, but it was obvious she'd been crying. No one made mention of it though, knowing her well enough to know that she wanted her space. She drifted through the rest of the afternoon in a trance, her mind and body numb but still oddly active.

She lay in bed that night unable to sleep as her mind churned over all the events of that day. After a couple hours of trying to rest, she finally gave up, slipped down from her bunk and silently stole off to the gym. Maybe if she could wear herself out, she'd be able to escape her thoughts for a bit.


	6. Chapter 6

The gym was dark when she slipped inside with only the glow of the outside lights to pierce the gloom. Deunan looked around as she entered, wondering what exactly she should do to unwind. Her gaze fell on the punching bags and she decided on them. After all, that was what Jordan always did when he was disturbed. She hadn't thought to bring her gloves, but that didn't matter, she tore into the bag enjoying the rough scraping of the canvas against her knuckles. She attacked until even as the canvas tore off the top layer of her skin, her fists leaving crimson streaks across its sand colored surface. Her mind was becoming so numb though that she didn't even register that she was injured, instead focusing on maintaining the rhythm. For the first time since Jordan left earlier, her heart didn't hurt.

Briareos was also finding it hard to sleep. He lay awake thinking of the things that happened earlier that day. Normally, he would just suppress these thoughts, but that night he wanted to mull them over and he couldn't tell why. After so many years of being numb, it was a novel sensation to feel something, even if it hurt like hell; because for some reason, the little girl's words had hurt him every bit as much as she'd hoped they would.

It was getting late though, and his mind was still too crowded to sleep. With a sigh he climbed out of bed and headed to the gym, maybe some weight training would clear his mind. His eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly and his saw Deunan laying into the bag with fury. He noticed the blood streaks and called out, "Hey Deunan, where the hell are your gloves?"

She didn't reply, in fact she'd barely registered that there had been noise in the room at all, much less that it had been a statement aimed at her. Her mind had transcended that gym, and the cadence of her punches acting as a mantra that led her to a higher plane.

Seeing that she didn't respond at all he rushed behind her, grabbing her in a bear hug despite her flailing attempts to free herself. He had to snap her out of this.

"Get off of me you bastard!" she shouted, continuing to kick him in the legs and strain her arms against his.

"No, Deunan! You're bleeding, you've got to stop!" He said, looking between the struggling girl and the blood covered punching bag. He had grown up seeing blood, and with very few exceptions it had never bothered him. This, though, was one of those exceptions.

"I'm not bleeding…" she started, but as though she were looking at the bag for the first time, she saw the red streaks across it, and her body went limp. "I... I don't care. Just, please, leave me be."

Turning her around, he looked down at her, caringly. "Take it out on me, Deunan, if you have to take it out on someone."

Deunan raised her fist, but then dropped it again, looking as though all her energy had failed her. "I..." her voice caught in her throat. Her eyes stung, and before she could to anything about it a warm tear trailed down her cheek. She angrily wiped it away. She didn't cry... she never cried, and here she was breaking down for the second time that day. She looked down at the floor crossly, struggling to keep the tears at bay, when she felt a strong set of arms wrap around her again, holding her close.

"I know it hurts like you've been abandoned, but Jordan did what was best for you," he murmured to her, unsure whether this was the best thing to say or not, but feeling he had to say something.

"I... I hate you," she said, as the tears rolled down her cheeks, but she wrapped her arms around him too, burying her face into him. Her body trembled as she struggled to slow her ragged breath. "You...why do you... I never cry."

Briareos nodded a little, just holding her while she cried. "Shh," he murmured, rubbing her back gently. This was something he understood; how many times had he held Demeter when she cried? He closed his eyes for a moment; holding her, it was as though time had turned its cruel hands back, and he was really holding onto his little sister again.

"I just don't want to feel anything anymore," she said softly. Her tears were making damp circles on his t-shirt. She hated herself for being so weak, and worse more for showing it to him. "Everything was good, but you ruined it. I just don't want to feel anything." She repeated. It had been so easy before he'd showed up. She had actually been getting good at repressing her feelings.

"I'm sorry I took the post your brother wanted," he said apologetically. "I'm not trying to ruin your life, Deunan."

She pushed herself away, turning her back to him. "Why did you have to come?" she said looking down at her bloody knuckles. Her voice cracked as she added, softly, "Why'd he have to go?" She used her forearm to wipe away her tears, although her face was already streaked with blood.

"I don't know," he said honestly. Clapping her on the shoulder he added, "Let's go get you cleaned up."

"I've got it," she insisted, turning from him. She went to the first aid kit and took it off the wall. Her fingers left little marks of swirled red on the white metal box. She wiped her hands on her tank top before she opened the box, trying to keep her hands from dripping blood on the contents therein, but rather failing at it.

"Give it here," Briareos said gently taking the box from her and wiping the blood from it. He cleaned off her hands, and carefully bandaged them. "I know you can do this," he said as he wrapped the gauze around her fingers. "But, it's easier with an extra set of hands."

This was the first time that a man besides her father or brother had held her hands, even if he was only holding them to mend her self-inflicted wounds. Her heart skipped a little as his fingers bandaged her up, but she forced herself to remain calm and calloused. "Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he countered.

Her green eyes searched his darker ones, trying to read him, but she gave up, simply saying, "Cause I obviously hate you, and it's not like you've got anything to gain being nice to me. So what gives?"

"Because you remind me of my sister," he replied honestly, finishing with the bandages and putting the first aid kid away. "It's late, go back to bed."

She took a few steps towards the door, but stopped and turned back to him. "Thanks, you know, for this," she said holding up her hands. "I...I'm sorry about what I said earlier today." Her voice was soft and she barely made eye contact with him. "And I'm... I'm really sorry about your sister."

"Thank you," Briareos replied just as softly. He watched her walk away, then grabbing a towel from a nearby shelf, he went to the punching bag and tried to clean her blood off of it. It didn't clean extremely well, but at least it wasn't quite as obvious what had happened. Something told him that Carl would be less compassionate with Deunan than he had been.

Strapping on his gloves he started working the bag. As he punched he thought about Deunan and Demeter. At first, Deunan had reminded him more of himself than his little sister, but the more he watched her, the more he saw that she was just as tender hearted as Demeter had been. She was odd too, although he didn't have much reference about what a normal 11-year-old girl should behave like, he was relatively sure that neither of them had fit the bill. He laughed a little at that, without realizing that that had been the first time in eight years that the memory of Demeter had drawn happy sentiments from him.


	7. Chapter 7

Deunan hung up the phone slowly, her eyes downcast. Two months had passed since Jordan left; that's who she'd been on the phone with, asking him to drive her up to Sacramento for the anniversary of their mother's death that weekend. Jordan had to work that day though, and as he told her, it would look bad if he started requesting days off after so little time working there. He had suggested that she ask their dad to bring her, but she had already done that; Carl was working that day, too, and was unwilling to take the day off. She'd even asked him if she could take the bus, but he'd told her that there was no way he was letting his eleven-year-old travel halfway across the state on a public bus.

She looked at the phone as though it would ring any moment, but it didn't, and so she walked out of the lounge into the bright sunlight. She went to the barracks and got her gun. Digging far down into her trunk she pulled out a rather old deck of playing cards and stuffed them into her back pocket. After doing this she headed to the outdoor range.

Blessedly, it was empty. She licked her finger and held it up to test the breeze. It was headed in a good direction, a bit left, but still towards the targets. She pulled out the deck of cards and counted out six, then tossing the deck to the ground, she threw the loose cards into the wind and used them as moving targets. It was a game that Jordan had invented, and she was quite good at it. After she finished her third round she felt a large hand on her shoulder, and whipped around. "Oh God, Bri! What the hell, you scared me!?" she said, setting her gun down.

"Target practice?" he asked amused, as the little girl ran out onto the range to gather her cards and scrutinize her shots.

She frowned, several of them were farther off than she'd have liked, and one was missed all together. She shoved them into her pocket and reached for the deck, pulling out another six. "Yeah," she said grimly. "If you need the range, I can leave though."

"Nah, I'm good," he said. Pointing to the cards he added, "Free moving targets, that's a pretty good idea."

"Yeah, Jordan thought of it," she said looking down at the cards in her hand. "We used to play with them all the time. Hey, you wanna give it a try?"

"Sure," he said, loading his guns. "Give me twelve."

"Twelve? Cocky much?" she said with a mordant laugh. He nodded though, and so she drew out another six cards out, and threw all twelve to the wind.

Briareos' twin PSS pistols barely made a sound as the shots hit their targets. Deunan was impressed as they went to gather up the cards. The placement wasn't the best, but he had made all the shots, and done it akimbo at that. She had yet to master using two weapons at the same time, despite her skill at marksmanship.

"Wow, you're a lot better than I am," she said glumly, handing him the cards she'd collected.

"I'm a lot older than you, too," he said with a chuckle, tousling her hair. "I've been doing this since before you were born, but don't sell yourself short, you're a better shot than a lot of the guys that we've got on the team."

She shrugged, her face still downcast as she loaded her gun.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Briareos asked. He noticed that she had been more depressed than normal the last few days, but had hoped that she'd just been having an off week or something.

"Nothing!" Deunan said defensively, her eyes cold.

"Obviously not," he pressed gently. "Come on, maybe I can help."

"You can't," she said glaring at him angrily. "See you later, I'm bored with this." And she walked off towards the barracks.

Briareos stood there for a few moments watching her walk away. She was never really warm, but over the last few months they'd developed what bordered on a friendship, and he worried about her like he had his own little sister. If there was something wrong, he wanted to fix it.

Once the barrack doors closed behind her, Briareos took out his cell phone. "Hey, Verund. Yeah, it's Briareos. Look, you've known Deunan for a while, you have any idea what her problems been these last few days. What? Yeah, I can meet you there. Okay. Yeah. See you then. Bye."

Half an hour later Briareos was sitting at Verund's table staring down at a picture of Deunan and her mother. "So what happened?" Briareos asked after a silent moment.

Verund sighed. "She was a geneticist, Jena, and a brilliant one at that. There was a genetics conference in San Francisco; she'd been invited to speak there. She was gonna skip the whole damn thing, but Carl and I just wouldn't leave it alone. I was working in Frisco at the time; I asked them to stay at my house. I though it would a good break, wanted to hang out with my friend." He gave a mirthless laugh. " She was killed by gang members. Striped down and raped cause they said she was trying to act white."

Briareos glanced down at the picture in his hands. Although it hadn't been obvious at first, he noticed little subtleties in her face that said she wasn't completely Caucasian; although her blonde hair and blue eyes were her most prominent features. It didn't really make any difference to him either way what race Deunan's mom was, but it certainly didn't surprise that it had been an area of anger for other people. He was mixed, too, after all, and had grown up hearing all the bigoted bullshit from both sides.

"Deunan's hated me for this since it happened," Verund continued, "She's right. It doesn't matter that I wasn't the one to kill Jena, in the end she died because I insisted they go." He hung his head a little. First Demeter, then Jena; it seemed he was always taking loved ones away from his friends. He pushed back those thoughts though, for the moment and looked Briareos in the eyes. "From what I hear, Deunan's looking for a way to get out to Sacramento to visit her mother's grave on Saturday. Carl's not gonna bring her, he ought to, but you know there's no talking sense to the man."

"Yeah, I've figured that out," Briareos said rather grimly. He'd tried to intervene on her behalf before, but to no avail.

"I was actually hoping that you could bring her. She'd never go with me, but she just may let you take her. "

"I don't know…" Briareos said hesitantly. He could sympathize with her position, to be sure, but he couldn't help feeling uneasy about just coming out and asking Deunan to let him take her to her mother's grave. It would feel like an imposition on his part.

"She needs to go there," Verund replied. "Even if it's all in her head, she needs it. It's the first time in a year, I've even ever heard her acknowledge that her mother died."

"I'll ask her," Briareos replied softly. "I can't promise she'll take me up on it, though."

"I'm not asking you to force her, just give her the option."

"And Lord knows Carl may step in and put a stop to it all…"

"I don't think so, Carl's not really opposed to her going, he just doesn't want to have to be the one to take her. It's a shitty move on his part, but Jena was his world; I'm surprised he's coped with this as well as he has."

Briareos snorted, "He's got kids that need him. He hasn't coped at all."

"He's better than some," Verund said, thinking back to Briareos' own father, but not wanting to draw a more obvious reference. "Look, just ask her okay."

"Yeah," he nodded, looking down at the happy picture of Deunan and her mother. "I'll do that."

"Hey, kid," Briareos said sitting down next to Deunan at the mess hall that night.

She scowled at him a little, but said, "Hi," with a sad attempt at a smile.

"Look, I'm not really good at beating around the bush, so here goes. I found out about you mom," he said, extremely uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"Verund told you!" she growled darkly, not looking up at him.

"Yeah, he did," Briareos admitted. "I was worried about you, Deunan. I asked him what was bothering you."

"He doesn't know anything about me." She poked angrily at her potato.

"He knew about this," Briareos said softly. "Look, he said you've been looking for a way to Sacramento. I've got Saturday off if you want a ride."

"Carl would never let you…" she started.

"Let me worry about your dad. Do you want to go?"

Deunan looked up at him, her eyes full of confliction. She wanted to go, but she didn't want to have him there in case she broke down. Moments passed in silence. She nodded a little. "Yeah, I do," she whispered.

"Good," he said. "Saturday then."

They ate the rest of their meal in silence; both of them deep in memories that they weren't comfortable sharing with the other.

On Saturday morning the sun broke over the horizon clear and warm as Briareos and Deunan turned onto the highway on his Ducati. Like Verund had predicted, Carl had little problem with Briareos taking Deunan, only demanding that the young man keep the "damned bike" under control and bring his daughter back in one piece. The day before their trip, Briareos had gone out and bought another, smaller helmet for Deunan. He was a good driver, but he'd rather be safe with her, and would have even if Carl hadn't demanded it of him.

They stopped in Salinas for lunch, but the whole thing was a rather quiet affair. Deunan barely made eye contact with him, but he didn't blame her. He felt the same way about Demeter, and used to always react the same way when Verund confronted him with her memory.

Once they got to the outskirts of Sacramento, Briareos turned off the road at a rest stop. "I'll need directions," he reminded her gently.

She nodded and gave told him were to go, not remembering most of the street names, but using enough landmarks to make it easy. "Could we… make a stop before we get there?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, where to?" he asked.

"I ought to bring flowers, right?" she asked, looking down as she kicked at a tuft of grass.

"I think that's the way it goes," he replied. He suddenly felt a twinge of guilt for not having ever brought Demeter flowers. She always loved flowers.

Deunan gave him directions to a florist near the cemetery. He got down with her there, watching as the little girl put together a bouquet of flowers. It was an odd assortment, but as usually the case with flowers, they looked nice together regardless. She paid for them, and they went out into the glare of the mid-afternoon sun.

They walked to the cemetery, not wanting to ruin the flowers in the wind, driving there. At the large front gates, Briareos turned to her. "Hey, you want me to wait here for you?" he asked.

"Yeah. She's just over there," Deunan said pointing to a shaded area to the left of them. "I'll be back in a bit."

He nodded, sitting down on a nearby bench and watching as she walked across the field towards her mother's grave. He looked away mostly, trying to give her privacy, but glanced up now and then; wanting to make sure she was okay. Years had taught him that even sacred places were not safe.

Deunan knelt down at her mother's headstone. It was carved of black marble with vines and flowers around the center. The inscription only had her name and her birth and death dates. It had always struck Deunan as somewhat cold. She deserved some epitaph, at least, so that years down the road people would know a bit more about who she was than just that she was born and died.

"Hey, mom," she said softly as she lay the flowers down in front of the headstone. "I managed to get out here. Dad and Jordan didn't make it, but I know they miss you. I came here with a guy from LA SWAT, Jordan hates him, but I guess you'd like him okay. He used to be an assassin, but he's not what you'd imagine. Jordan's working down at the border, and Dad, well he's Dad."

She stopped, brushing tears from her eyes. "I miss you," she whispered. "I miss you so much. I… I should have stopped them. I should have done something." Images of that day played before her eyes. She and her mom were walking back to Verund's house from a park nearby. The neighborhood was rough, but it was broad daylight. They had walked past a group of men in an alleyway when she heard it, "Hey Kaffir!" Deunan's mom hadn't turned around, but clutched her daughter's hand tighter and speed up a bit. "Hey, you heard me. Think your all high and mighty? Tryin' to be a kracker? Think if you dye your hair and wear those contacts it'll hide the fact you one of us?" Her mom had tried to get them away, but one of the men grabbed her and spun her around. Deunan still remembered the look of loathing in his eyes and she roughly cupped her face in his hand. "Think your better than us don't ya, bitch?" he spat. All of the men wore the colors of a black supremacy gang. Deunan had frozen, unsure what to do, and frightened as one of the men brandished a shotgun.

"Run, Deunan!" Jena pleaded desperately as they pulled her into the alleyway. Tears were running down Deunan's cheeks, but her feet couldn't move. "Deunan, go get your dad!" her voice came from the darkness.

Sitting in the shade of the large oak tree, tears spilled freely from Deunan's eyes. "I'm so sorry, mom," she said between sobs. "I should have done something. I should have fought them. I was just so scared." She cupped her face in her hands, her nails digging into her scalp as she cried.

There was a firm, but gentle, hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Briareos, but rather than be furious with him for finding her in that state she clung onto him and buried her face in his chest. "Shh, Deunan. You miss her, and I know she misses you, too," he said softly, as he rubbed her back. After that he fell silent, just holding her and letting her cry it out.

The ride back home was even quieter than the one there, but when they got back to the base, Deunan grabbed him by the wrist as he headed to the barracks. When he turned around she looked up at him with a faint smile. "Thanks," she said softly. "Thanks for bringing me, and for being there for me."

"I'll always be there when you need me," he replied ruffling her hair with a tender smile. She grinned widely for the first time that week, and rushed off to the women's barracks. He watched her go, chuckling softly to himself. She was a sweet kid; even for all her acting tough, she had a tender heart.


	8. Chapter 8

One morning in mid-August, Deunan found Briareos at the obstacle course, running the newest recruits through the paces. He wasn't particularly happy with this crop; he had never met a group of lazier, less skilled men. Deunan had noticed this as well, but she wasn't concerned with the lousy rookies. She almost skipped as she neared him and tapped him on the back. "Need something?" he asked turning to look at her with a slight smile.

"Yep," she said with a sly grin, as she rocked back and forth on her heels. "I need a ride to the beach."

"You want me to take you?" he chuckled a little. Deunan amused him when she was being like that, acting girly to get what she wanted. In small doses it was actually endearing , but he was glad she didn't do it often, so it didn't get annoying.

"You have this afternoon off, riiiight?" she asked with her sweetest pout.

"Well, 'off' doesn't include watching children," he teased. He had ever intention of taking her, but he enjoyed baiting her anger.

"I'm not asking for a _babysitter_!" she growled. "I'm asking for a _ride_!"

He closed his eyes for a moment, scratching the back of his head, pretending to deeply weigh out his options.

"Come on, Bri," she begged, pulling on the hem of his shirt.

"A little respect in front of the rookies," he said with a serious face, although he was staving off the strong desire to laugh.

"Okay, Bri-are-ee-oos," she said sarcastically stressing every syllable, but letting go of his shirt. "Will you _please_ bring me to the beach this afternoon?"

He looked down at his stopwatch then back at the recruits as they finished the course. Their time was totally unacceptable. "Run it again!" he called, his face full of disgust at their lack of effort. Turning back to Deunan he asked, "Why don't you ask Christine?"

"Already did," she said, crinkling up her nose. "She's got a hot date tonight. Needs to prepare."

"And what if I have one, too."

"Like you could get one," Deunan scoffed, punching him in the arm.

"You should be nicer to people you ask favors from," Briareos scolded sagely. The rookies finished the course again, and grouped around in front of them. "I tell you what, these boys' time is a bit slow," he said, shaking his head with shame at their performance. "They'll run it again. You keep up with the leader. You've got a ride." Looking up at the rookies he added, "And if you guys' don't speed up, you'll be running this course till midnight." He hoped they would see the disgrace in being pitted against a child, and raise the bar.

Deunan smiled wickedly and stretched her muscles out. It did not matter that many of these men were twice her age. As he blew his whistle for them to begin again, she fought hard and kept pace with the leader of the pack, even passing him on one occasion. Briareos stood off a bit, watching with a mixture of disappointment in the rookies and pride at Deunan's success. They finished with Deunan neck and neck with the leader.

Looking down at the stopwatch he noticed that at least they had cut off some of their time, but it still wasn't enough. "That was pathetic!" Briareos growled at the men. "Drop and give me a hundred, then hit the course again."

"So I got a ride?" Deunan asked breathing hard, but grinning wide.

"Yeah, kid, you got a ride," he said with a fake sigh. "Now, get outta here so I can do my job."

A few hours later, they were both on the back of Briareos' motorcycle pulling into a parking garage near the beach. Deunan was wearing Briareos' backpack that he'd packed all their gear in. "Want me to take it?" he asked as they climbed off the bike. He'd had that ratty backpack since he was a small child, but it held too many memories, both bad and good, for him to discard it.

It was an oddity that he had let Deunan wear it for the trip out there, but strangely enough, it didn't bother him at all that she continued to carry it. "It's not that heavy," she said, shifting it so that only one strap was on her shoulder.

Briareos shrugged at this, and they walked out into the glaring sun. The beach was full of people in spite of the time. Some people lay out sunbathing, others were out in the ocean wading, swimming and surfing. Deunan took a deep breath, sighing contently as she rummaged through the rucksack for her stuff. She handed the bag over to him. "I'll meet you there after I finish changing, okay,' she said, pointing to a spot by a large palm tree. He nodded and they both headed off to the dressing rooms.

About fifteen minutes later Deunan emerged from the dressing room. She had a pair of knee length boys' swim trunks and a black bikini top over her still-flat chest. She almost doubled over with laughter when she saw Briareos. "What?" he asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you wearing?" she managed to blurt out between peals of nervous laughter. Her bright red cheeks almost matched his Speedo. She palmed her face, shaking her head slightly.

"What? We're going swimming, right?" he said, not seeing her problem with his attire.

"Swimming, yeah, but God, nobody wears those," she said stealing glances at him. He was very handsome, but she wouldn't admit it.

"I see lots of guys wearing them," he said gesturing out to the beach goers. "And their pretty much standard in Europe."

"Yeah, well, European guys weird," she said, trudging off ahead of him closer to the water.

"Just how many European guys do you know?" he asked, amused with her response.

"Well, just you and Verund really," she said defensively, turning around to face him.

"Actually, Verund's from Russia, which is technically part of Asia, sooo," he said with a chuckle.

"So you're weird," Deunan laughed tearing off down the beach. He hung back watching her as she ran into the dodged around the people still giggling. Although he didn't realize it, those last few months she'd acted more like a child than she had in a long time.

They had just gotten out of the water and laid out on the sand when a group of kids playing volleyball caught Deunan's attention. She lay on her stomach watching them for a while. They were about her age, joking, and talking loud as they played. Even before he mother's death, she had never been like one to go out with friends like that. She usually just kept to herself. "Hey, Bri," she said turning to look at him.

"Hm?" he asked breaking his gaze from a cluster of bikini-clad teenagers.

"What do you think their talking about?" she asked, tilting her head to the kids.

Briareos chuckled. "Go over there and find out," he said, turning to look at the kids, who were completely oblivious to being their topic of conversation.

"I can't just go over there," she hissed. "I wouldn't even know what to say."

"Usually 'hi' is a good starting point," he teased, ruffling her hair.

She angrily flattened her hair down and shook her head. "Did you have a lot of friends when you were my age?" she asked, trying to change the subject a bit.

"No," he said honestly. "Mainly I talked with my little sister when we had breaks, but I was already working as an assassin at your age."

Deunan nodded, her face a little sad. "I never really had that many myself," she said, flicking up a bit of sand in the direction of a pebble.

"But your so sweet," He said with a sarcastic smile.

"Jerk!" she replied, but laughed as well, punching him in the arm.

"Want to head back?" he asked, stealing another glance at the girls.

"I hear 'hi' works wonders," Deunan teased as she got up and shook the sand out of her towel.

"Too young," he said, doing the same.

"They're not that young," she said defensively. If they were too young, he must think she was baby.

"Compared to you, no. Compared to me, yeah," he said with a chuckle. In truth they weren't any more than three years younger than him, but there seemed to be a world of difference in those three years.

"Whatever," she said as they made their way to the dressing rooms. "So what kind of girl to you like anyway?"

Briareos almost choked on that one. He nervously rubbed the back of his head. The first answer that popped to his head was, "hot and easy," but it wouldn't do to tell her that. "I don't know. Pretty, strong, smart. Never really thought about it. I guess it would be nice if she were someone I could relate to. You know, if she and I had something deep." He hadn't given any though to it before, but that sounded kind of nice.

Deunan laughed a little, but stored away that information. "I bet you'll find her one day," she said enigmatically. She took her clothes from his bag and headed to the women's dressing room with a faint smile on her lips. One day, somehow, she would make him like her. She promised herself that.


	9. Chapter 9

Deunan sat cross-legged in front of a grave holding a bouquet of daisies. With a little sniff, she leaned forward, flicking some dust off the headstone with her forefinger. "You were always kind of messy," she gave a sad laugh. "Here," she said, laying the flowers near the headstone. "I know you're probably ripping on me right now, for being a sap and bringing you flowers, but you know, I've always been a bit sappy. Eh, Jordan." She brushed a tear away as she gave another sad chuckle.

It had been a year already since her brother had been killed in a drug raid on the border. Every Friday since his funeral, she'd gone there in the morning, right after PT, to change out his flowers and talk to him about what had happened recently. That particular morning she dangled a set of keys from her fingers with a sad smile. "I bought myself a car. Yeah, it's a kind a piece of crap, but what do you expect? Dad made me pay for it myself. The notes alone will probably cost me my first born child." She smiled, leaning forward again she rubbed the dirt at the head of the grave. "I got to go now, though, Jordan. I'm supposed to meet Jill back at the HQ. They've got a couple new guys who're supposed to be trying out today. No, I'm being good; don't worry. I'll see you next week, okay?"

Deunan pulled her aged Toyota into the parking lot at the base. She looked out to the training yard. There was her friend, Jill Acree leaning up against a tree near the obstacle course. "Hey," she said, waving lazily as Deunan approached.

Jill was eighteen, two years older than Deunan, and had just joined the force eight months ago, right out of high school. She was pale, with short black hair and an abundance of freckles. That day, she was wearing tight jeans and a black tank top, that showed off a large Celtic tattoo on her right shoulder.

"They got here yet?" Deunan asked as she searched the grounds for signs of her father, Verund, or Briareos.

"Yeah, nice crop, too," Jill answered with a sly grin. "Not that you'd really care."

"I care," Deunan scoffed.

"Yeah, sure you do," Jill teased. It hadn't taken her long to see that her younger friend had eyes only for Briareos. And although she loved to tease her about it, she couldn't deny that the girl had taste.

In a moment the three men Deunan had been looking for emerged from the main building of the SWAT complex, two men Deunan didn't recognize followed them. "See what I mean," Jill said, nodding in their direction. "Nice crop. Wish there were more, though."

"Yeah, they are pretty nice," Deunan added with an appreciative smile at the men walking their way.

"We're still talking about the recruits, right?" Jill asked with a laugh, relatively sure that it was Briareos that Deunan was ogling.

"Shut up," Deunan grumbled, rolling her eyes and swatting at Jill. "Man, the one with the blonde hair is hot." He was the shorter of the two recruits, but he had a nice build to him and a confident swagger, that made Deunan's heart quiver. The other recruit was a taller, serious faced brunette. As the men passed the two girls, he gave them a curt nod, but the blonde-haired recruit swept his hair back from his eyes and gave them a sexy grin. Deunan blushed a little and smiled back.

"I think he agrees with you on that one," Jill scoffed when the men walked out of earshot.

"You think he thinks I'm hot?" Deunan asked, excited at the idea.

Jill laughed. "No, I think he knows he's hot. Forget about him, you don't want a guy like that."

"But he is hot; what's wrong with him knowing it?" Deunan countered as she and Jill slowly started to follow the men to the obstacle course.

"Just trust me on this one. Stick with Briareos."

"Bri doesn't see me as anything but an annoying little sister," Deunan said with a laugh, although there was a little bitterness in her voice.

"Hmmm. Well," Jill said slowly, "there is a way you could get him to notice you, and get a chance to mess around with Mr. Vain a bit, too."

Deunan looked a bit shocked at this and grabbed Jill's arm to halt her. "Wait, you just said to forget about him," she said with a raised eyebrow.

"I meant forget about having a relationship with him," Jill said slyly, "but we're not talking about relationships. We're talking about jealousy."

Deunan crinkled her nose a bit at the thought. "I'm not that desperate," she said, "regardless how hot Mr. Vain is."

Jill shrugged and they continued on their way to the obstacle course, where they both sat in the grass on the sidelines and watched the two men each try to impress their future commanding officers. Deunan looked between the blonde-haired recruit and Briareos. It seemed they couldn't be more different if they'd been trying, both in physical appearance and attitude, but Deunan reminded herself that she didn't know the new guy all that well. And, she conceded, reluctantly, maybe different wasn't always bad. After all, she'd been after Briareos for years, and although he was always nice to her, he made it abundantly clear that he saw her as a child.

The two recruits finished the course with very good time, and joined the three officers at the sidelines. "Seems good," Carl said with a nod. They were, at least, better than the last batch he'd trained. "Let's see how you do at the range."

When they turned to go, Briareos stopped by Deunan and Jill. "You two don't have anything better to do?" he asked, shaking his head a little in mock disappointment.

"Nope," Jill said with a grin, shading her eyes from the sun as she looked up at him.

"You're a bad influence on the kid," he joked offering them both a hand up. Deunan scowled a little at what she considered a quip at her age, and turned her gaze to the blonde recruit, watching as he began to load his weapon.

"So how do you think they look?" Deunan asked Briareos after a few moments of silence passed.

"Hm, I thought that was you and Acree's department," he said with a chuckled, giving her a light shove.

Deunan growled a bit, mumbling about him being a smartass, but they both turned their attention to the range as the men began showing their skills with firearms. They were good, not great, but decent. She leaned over and whispered to Jill, "Hey, wanna get out of here? I'm getting kind of bored with them."

Jill nodded. "We'll meet them later anyways," she whispered in reply.

"Catch you tonight," Deunan said to Briareos, as she and Jill walked off.

"Later," he called after them.

Jill had the rest of that afternoon off, and she and Deunan headed out for the mall. On her fourteenth birthday, Carl had given Deunan her first credit card. Unfortunately, though, he had not given her much instruction on the finer workings of it, and as a result, she had amassed a huge credit debt that only grew as each month went by. Each month Deunan only asked him enough money to pay the base payment, and so he hardly had a clue how bad the problem had gotten. At the mall the only difference between them was that Jill went to clothing shops, while Deunan could have spend her entire visit at a gun and knife shop at the far corner of the complex.

The two girls arrived back at HQ at the end of that afternoon, arms full of bags. Under Jill's tutelage Deunan had adopted a bit more of a feminine style of dressing, a fact that Briareos had both noticed and slightly regretted. Although he was happy she was now, at least, dressing like a girl, now he had to keep a bunch of horny young recruits off of her. She may not have been willing to admit that she was still young, but seeing as Carl wasn't going to do anything to stop their advances, he took it on himself to make sure the young Romeos were properly threatened.

After supper that night, Deunan was sitting on the bench in front of the women's barracks, meticulously cleaning Briareos' PSS pistols. He walked up to her, smiling at the care she was taking with the weapons he had 'lent' her years back. He still took them back to go on some missions, but, for the most part, they stayed with Deunan. "You know, you ought to be out at the range, practicing," he said softly as he sat down besides her.

She nodded without looking up from the part she was greasing down. "In a while," she said, holding the piece up and inspecting it carefully. "I just wanted to unwind a bit."

"Thought that's what you did this afternoon," he said, noticing that she was wearing a new outfit, including a pair of very short shorts. "Where is your partner in crime, anyways?"

"She's got a date tonight," Deunan said with a sigh. She didn't know about Briareos' attempts to keep the guys at bay, and couldn't understand why none of them seemed interested in her.

"Something bugging you?" he asked, knowing the answer, but not wanting to admit it to himself.

"No, just bored," she half-lied, as she put the gun back together.

"Want to catch a movie or something?" he offered, nudging her a little. He hated seeing her so disappointed.

"Like a date?" she asked, in equal parts hopeful and teasing.

Briareos' chuckled nervously, inwardly hitting himself for putting thoughts in her head. "No, like two friends watching a movie," he said, ruffling her short hair. "I'll even make you pay for your own popcorn."

"Chivalry is dead," Deunan said melodramatically.

"Something tells me it was a girl like you who pulled the trigger," he muttered as he stood up. She rolled her eyes. "So you want to go or not?" he asked.

"Can I drive?" she asked.

"Not unless we take your car," he said, wincing a bit at the thought of her behind the wheel of the classic Mustang he'd just purchased, much less his beloved Ducati. He had had the misfortune of being in the car when she drove, and it wasn't an experience he was willing to relive again anytime soon, especially not with his vehicles at risk of annihilation.

"Wimp!" Deunan said as she gathered her gun and the cleaning supplies. "Fine, you drive, but we take the Ducati."

"Fair enough," he replied with a shrug. "I'll wait out here for you to go change."

"What?" Deunan asked, running a finger up her leg. "Don't like the view?"

Briareos swatted her in the back of the head. "Go put some pants on," he commanded. In truth, he enjoyed the view a good deal too much for his conscience. He hated to admit it, but she had amazing legs.

"You know your problem?" Deunan teased. "You don't know what you want. You used to complain about me dressing like a boy, now you complain about me dressing like a girl. I wish you'd make up your mind."

"Pants. Now," Briareos growled, pointing to the door.

Deunan laughed a bit, chunking the greasy rag at him as she did what he commanded. She emerged in a few minutes wearing a pair of jeans with her tank top. In her hands she held a light jacket and her helmet. Giving him a sarcastic smile she turned around. "Do I pass inspection, of Minister of Chastity?"

"If I'm the Minister of Chastity the world is in trouble," he said with a chuckle. "Come on. If we hurry we can make the seven o'clock feature."

Briareos had a passion for old movies, and on occasion Deunan humored him, voting that they go to the Retro Theater on the Strip. She mainly agreed because they were running an Anime Festival that month. The movie had already started by the time they got to the theater. Although he had teased her about it before, he wound up buying not only her popcorn, but also her drink and ticket to boot. They found the nearest available set of seats and slid into them, apologizing as they crossed in front of people.

Deunan leaned over and whispered, "You didn't tell me this thing had subtitles."

"You didn't ask," he whispered back, chuckling a little. He spoke fluent Japanese so the language was a non-issue for him. "Anyways, it'll do you good to do a bit of reading," he added, bracing himself for her elbow.

"You can be a real jerk sometimes, you know that?" she hissed.

"You've told me that a couple of hundred times. Now hush, I'm trying to listen."

She fell into silence, every now and then stealing glances at him out of the corner of her eyes. The movie was pretty interesting once she'd gotten into the pattern of watching the action and reading the subtitles fluidly. During a brief silent moment in the film, Deunan took a quick glance around her, noticing with a bit of horror that most of the people around them were couples, either making out or embracing. She glanced back over to Briareos, who turned and gave her a small grin. "Like the movie?" he whispered.

"Fair enough, now hush, I'm trying to read," she said, turning back to the screen.

He chuckled, watching her for a moment longer before turning back to the screen. Deunan was still a weird kid, although she was fast becoming a woman. He knew soon, very soon, she'd be part of one of those nameless couples in the back of a theater, some guy who didn't even come close to deserving her feeling her up. Turning back to the screen, his mind was elsewhere, trying to find some way that he could freeze time right there.

Outside the movie theater, Briareos climbed onto his bike, but before Deunan could climb onto the back, he grabbed her wrist, stopping her. "Hey, you want to try driving her?" he asked, pulling her to sit in front of him.

She couldn't help smile as he took her hands, guiding them up to the handlebars, covering her small hands with his larger ones. Her heart quivered with a strange ache when she felt his breath against her cheek as he instructed her on how to start the bike up. She bit her bottom lip as she felt the bike begin to purr beneath her, his hand guiding hers to give it just the right amount of gas. She started off, and his hands left hers, going down to rest gently on her hips. Without him realizing what he was doing for a moment, his thumbs gently worked under Deunan's top, playing at the silky skin of her waist.

Reality jarred him wake soon enough; he was getting entirely too much pleasure out of riding like that, with Deunan between his legs, feeling her skin as the world rushed around them. Everything that had been beautiful about the moment was lost. She was his commanding officer's daughter, his friend, and a minor. His hands went to rest on his own thighs, and Deunan felt him scoot back ever so slightly, his muscles tensing.

When she had felt his thumbs massaging her skin, she had been elated, but soon, he pulled back, and she guessed the reason behind his hesitation. It stung at her heart, making her slightly wish that she had just told him to go to the movies alone that night. It had been wonderful at first, riding like that, like the beginning of a dream, but with his one gesture, his small retreat, he broke the last thread of hope Deunan had for him liking her. Although she'd been begging him for years to drive his bike she didn't feel the ride could end soon enough.

They got back to base safely, despite a bit of reckless driving on Deunan's part, which only added to Briareos' reasons for not wanting to do that again anytime soon. When they climbed off the bike there was an awkward moment of silence. "So how's she handle?" Briareos said finally, breaking the ice.

"Good," Deunan said, nodding with a bit of a sigh. "Real good. Thanks, too, you know, for letting me drive her."

"You're welcome," he said. Normally he'd have made a quip about how piss poor her driving was, and how that was the first and last time she'd be driving his bike, but he just couldn't find it in himself to be so light-hearted.

"Well, I'll, um, see you tomorrow," she said, rocking back on her heels. "Thanks for the movie, too."

"You're welcome," he repeated, feeling a bit dumb for not being able to find the right things to say.

She nodded, and he watched her walk to the women's barracks. He sighed. Although he hadn't intended this to be a date it had ended the way most of his dates had in the past few years. Things started getting good and comfortable, then he made some stupid blunder, and the girl wound up either feeling awkward or hating him or both. Walking towards the men's barracks he didn't think he could live with the last two, not from Deunan.


	10. Chapter 10

Deunan had barely slept that night, and when dawn greeted her she rolled over onto her back with a groan. Looking up she saw a picture of her and Briareos taken when she was twelve; Dahlia had taken it when they had all gone with a group of off duty SWAT members for the fourth of July. Then there was the one from Christine's wedding, with Briareos in a suit and her in the lavender bridesmaids' dress, his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Those were the only two pictures in her photo collage with him in them, and she had treasured them, looking up at his smile when she would wake up in the morning would make her want to smile, too. On that morning though, the morning after Briareos had let Deunan drive his bike for the first time, she looked up at the pictures and scowled at them. When she'd lain down with hopes of sleep the night before she hadn't been angry with him, not really, but as the night wore on her mind began to compound all her annoyances with him. And so, in the morning light she was practically fuming. She reached up and peeled both the pictures off the ceiling, and seriously contemplated tearing the offending images up, but then thought better of it, and after she'd gotten down off the bunk she shoved them into the farthest corner of her trunk, slamming the lid shut.

"Pissed much?" Jill asked with an amused, sleepy voice as she sat up in her bunk, looking down at her younger friend with amusement.

"No," Deunan almost growled. "Just got tired of looking at some of those pictures."

Jill chuckled. "Wouldn't happen to be pictures of a certain Greek lieutenant we know?" she teased.

Deunan sat on top of the trunk with a huff. She nodded as her mind turned over the events of the last night. Technically, he'd done nothing wrong; aside, of course, from being the perfect gentleman.

"So, what exactly happened?" Jill asked as she climbed down from her bunk and began to get dressed.

"Nothing," Deunan said darkly. "A whole lot of it, too."

Jill sighed. She could understand where both of them were coming from. On one hand, Deunan was completely infatuated with Briareos and she could knew could certainly appreciate her weakness for the stoic officer. On the other hand though, she could see where Briareos would be a bit reluctant to return her sentiments; after all, he was nine years older than Deunan and had practically watched the girl grow up.

A few moments of silence passed as Deunan dug around in her trunk for a clean change of clothes for PT. "You think jealousy would really work?" she asked as she slipped into a pair of running pants.

"It may," Jill answered with a conniving glimmer in her eyes, "but you'll have to wear something a bit sexier than that."

Briareos resisted a facepalm when Deunan and Jill joined rank that morning. Standing to the side of the team, he and Verund exchanged looks of mild exasperation. Deunan had borrowed some of Jill's clothes, a pair of cutoff sweatpants and sports bra. True enough that on hot mornings a few of the female team members wore things like that, but seeing it on the Commander's daughter was a little bit more than shocking. From the corners of their eyes, many of the guys began to "appreciate" the girl in ways that both of the officers found entirely inappropriate.

Briareos was torn between wanting to avoid calling any additional attention to her wardrobe and the overwhelming desire to wrap her up in the nearest available piece of cloth he could find, all the while scolding her for being so stupid. Normally in the mornings, she'd greet him, even if it was only with a sleepy 'hey' or a wave, but this particular morning, she didn't even make eye contact with him as she fell into line. Damn it all, he grumbled in his mind, she may be pissed off that he'd treated her like a kid, but he'd be damned if he let her put herself out like a common whore to prove her point. "Knute!" He growled loudly, marching out to stand in front of her. "You lost your clothes on the way out here!?"

A few of the team members snickered, but he ignored them. Her eyes looked through him, refusing to meet his gaze, but only the slightest hint of a blush crept up onto her cheeks.

"That was a question, Knute!" he barked.

"Permission to speak freely, _Sir_?" she asked adding extra venom to the last word.

He restrained an aggravated sigh, and said, "Granted."

"I was unaware I was naked, Sir," she said seriously. Jill bit back a cackle. A few other team members did the same.

'Damn it all to hell,' Briareos thought. "Drop!" he ordered. "Push-ups and don't you even think of stopping till I give the order.

Deunan scowled, looking him in the eyes for the first time that morning. Although his gaze didn't soften it tore at his heart to see the anger and pain in her eyes. As much as she hated what he was doing, she knew he was justified in it; she knew better than to have given him lip.

Deunan was still doing push-up when PT ended, her arms shaking a bit, but she kept a steady pace, not wanting to give Briareos the satisfaction of thinking he'd gotten the better of her. Everyone had headed to the mess hall when he crouched down besides her. Even with his close proximity she didn't falter in her exercises.

"Deunan," he said, his voice a bit softer than it was before. "You can stop now, kid, but I need to talk to you."

"What do you want?" she asked with a scowl, as she sat down on the cool cement.

"I want you to check the goddamned attitude!" he growled. "What the hell were you thinking coming out here dressed like a hooker!?"

"The other women dress like this sometimes!" she growled back, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"The other women aren't sixteen years old. Damn it, Deunan, you want these guys to see you think you're a whore?" He angrily rubbed his temple. He only thought he'd had problems keeping the guys off her before, now it would be practically impossible.

"I want _these guys_ to see that I'm not a little kid!" she growled, hoping that that was blunt enough for him to get the point.

"You're still are a kid!" he countered.

That was it; she couldn't take anymore of this condescending crap! Deunan pointed to her breasts. "I'm not a fucking kid!" she shouted. "And if you weren't such a goddamned faggot you'd see that!"

"You are sixteen," Briareos growled, furious. "Legally, you are still a kid. Now get your ass in those barracks and put on some clothes!"

"You may be an officer here," she hissed, "but as you may have noticed, I'm not a recruit yet. I don't have to take your fucking orders!" And with that she stood up and started angrily to the mess hall. She left him sitting there, fuming and more than a little confused by the overnight change in her. She was so pissed off, she was supposed to make him jealous, not have him accuse her of being a child prostitute.

When she walked into the hall, Carl took one look at her and dragged Deunan out by her arm. "What the hell?" he demanded. "You decide to give up being a cop and take up hooking?"

Deunan let out an exasperated growl. "Damn it, what is with you people this morning!? It's almost a hundred degrees outside, Dad," she said almost stumbling over the seldom-used title, and wondering why he even bothering to act like a parent this time.

"And yet, everyone else is still fully dressed. Damn it, Deunan, you're my kid, what you do reflects on me. You can't act like an idiot without me falling on you like a ton of bricks." He shook his head. As confusing as Deunan had been when she was younger, this new, hormone-charged teenager was more of a challenge than he felt up to.

Without another word Deunan turned and stormed off to the barracks. Once she was out of the mess hall she muttered angry curses under her breath. None of the other women got called out when they dressed like that! Hell, Jill had worn that very outfit two days last week! Inside the barracks she continued to grumble as she dressed quickly into a pair of jeans and a baggy t-shirt; so much for seduction.

Back in the mess hall she grabbed a plate of food and plopped herself ungracefully besides Jill. "Well, that was a horrible failure," she mumbled as she poked at her scrambled eggs venomously.

Jill nodded in solidarity. "Wasn't expecting that," she agreed. "You looked good, Deunan. And hey, it definitely got his attention!"

Deunan snorted. "You ever heard the expression, 'The wrong kind of attention?' He practically accused me of being a whore!" she whispered. She looked around the hall and noticed for the first time that a lot of the guys were looking at her. "I think I may have gotten more than just his attention," she mumbled, as she looked down, blushing violently.

Jill grinned. "Well, whatever works," she said cheerfully, digging into her breakfast. "Give it time, girl. He'll come around."

Deunan smiled a little at that, stealing a glance at Briareos, who was looking decidedly angry as he talked with Verund and Carl. She winced; and doubted seriously that he was going to come around any time soon.

Jill finished eating before she had, and hurried off to the briefing room, since she was on duty that day. Deunan felt more awkward than she ever had before in the company of the SWAT team.

A few minutes after Jill left, the new blonde haired recruit, whose name she'd learned was Baker, walked behind her and bent down to whisper in her ear, "I loved the view this morning." She blushed brightly and froze as her heart beat wildly. Before she could think of any reply, though, or even move, he had walked out to join Jill with the rest of the active team. She sat for a few moments in stunned silence, a faint smile playing on her lips. 'Whatever works,' she heard over again in her head.

That night a group of the guys her talking about Deunan's little escapade. "I didn't even realize she had boobs," one said. "Yeah, man I've never seen her in that kinda get up," another stated. They were keeping it rather tamed, though, for fear of Briareos' wrath. Said Greek marksman was laying in his bed attempting to read and ignore the topic of conversation, all the while keeping one ear open to it to make sure it didn't get out of hand.

Baker, however, hadn't had experience in the area of Briareos' wrath at men who dared make advances towards Deunan, and so said rather loudly, "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna try my damnedest to get a piece of that ass! I mean, fuck, you saw her with the push-ups. Damn, bet that girl could go all night!" The other guys looked a bit nervous, not giving any committal replies to his statement, and quickly finding some other thing to occupy their time.

Across the room Briareos had definitely heard that statement. His eyes narrowed only slightly, although inside he was seething. Carefully marking the page in his book and setting it down he calmly got out of bed and walked over to the new recruit. "I'm sorry, what was that about wanting to fuck the Commander's minor daughter? I didn't hear you," he said, his voice low and menacing.

Hey, man!" Baker said taking a step back, but laughing. "You know you want a piece of that. Hell, the fact the Commander's her old man only makes it a challenge. And a minor? Fuck, there isn't much minor about that. Am I right guys?" None of the guys said anything, though, all waiting tensely to see what Briareos would do.

Briareos' eyes and posture were so cold he might as well have been a glacier. "I don't find that funny," he said in a growl. "Back off, Baker."

"What the hell, man? She you're girl or something?" he laughed again, although it was a bit more nervous this time.

Briareos didn't flinch. "She's nobody's girl. She's sixteen. If I, or, god forbid, Carl, catch ANY of you touching her, you will be lucky to wake up in the ICU! Am I clear?"

"As glass," Baker muttered, sitting down on his bunk. "Hell, what the fuck do I want her for now anyways? If I remember right, there's plenty of cunt in this town to keep me occupied till her two years are up."

"You're an asshole," Briareos grumbled. Of course of all the jerks in the barracks, this had to be the one who took a serious interest in Deunan. Goddamned perverted narcissist!

Baker just shrugged at the statement and watched with assumed disinterest as Briareos went back to his own bed and picked his book back up. Only after the book once had gone up in front of his face, did Baker allow himself a smug grin. What did it matter if one of the officers was looking out for her; it just made the whole thing a bit more interesting.

Deunan arrived a bit early for PT the next morning, this time wearing Capri length jogging pants and a t-shirt this time. She sat down on the cement stretching out her muscles as she waited for the rest of the team to get out to the yard.

"Hey," Briareos greeted as he joined her, having been hoping he could catch her early. He crouched down besides her as he had the day before and locked eyes with her. "Look, Baker's a real asshole who just wants a piece... stay away from him, okay?"

"Good morning to you too," she grumbled. "What I do in my spare time is my business, by the way." She looked away from him, pretending to be completely focused on stretching out the muscles in her shoulders.

"Just take my word on this one." Briareos sighed. "I'm sorry I pissed you off yesterday, but you didn't want the attention you were getting."

Deunan looked up at him and gave him a sarcastic smile. "How the hell would you know what kind of attention I want? What if I just want a fuck buddy?" It wasn't true, but she hoped that it hit a nerve.

Briareos visibly flinched at that. "Well, then, you'll be happy to know that there was an hours-long conversation about your physical attributes last night in the barracks, led primarily by Baker, who loudly declared that he'll try his damnedest to get a piece of your ass. Not you, Deunan, just your body. If that's what you wanted, then congratulations, you achieved your goal." He glared off into the distance, furious to be in this position at all.

"Good, then we're all squared away, Sir," she said, with a mock cheerful tone as the other team members began to fill in. "Thanks for your congratulations, I'm sure I'll have a great time." She smirked a little. 'Take that you condescending jerk,' she thought.

Briareos turned his head to glance at her, sadness in his eyes. Before standing to address the assembled group, he softly whispered, "Don't do anything stupid."


	11. Chapter 11

In her sixteen years of life, Deunan had never before thought she was hot, decent looking maybe, but not hot. Now, though, she found herself on the receiving end of quite a bit covert attention from the men (and to her horror a few of the women) on SWAT. Although it gave her a small thrill to have so many people, the guys at least, making advances to her, she couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt and regret. Over the past several weeks since her little morning exhibition, her relationship with Briareos had been stranded at best. Loath though she was to admit it, the majority of this distance was her fault. She'd held angrily to her grudge for a while, trying to convince herself that he'd somehow wronged her by seeing her as a child. She also tried to convince herself that she was happy with the substitute attention she was getting elsewhere, mainly in the from of Baker when he knew that Briareos was busy somewhere else.

It was a rare cool afternoon in April when Baker decided to make his move. Briareos was working a drug bust and Baker had assumed that he'd be out for at least a couple more hours when he approached Deunan in the lounge. She was laying on her back on the sofa; her literature textbook was propped up on her knees as she scribbled notes for her final essay. She was a bit proud of herself, since they'd moved to L.A. she'd been in a home study program and she pushed herself hard to be able to graduate a year ahead of time. She had plans, big ones. The youngest applicants they accepted at the Police academy were seventeen; she was going to enter and graduate as quickly as she could, then transfer immediately to the Special Training Center and again graduate quickly from there. Her dream was to be the youngest officer in the history of L.A. SWAT, and she would accept no less of herself.

Baker, however, who was standing in the doorway, admiring her bare legs, didn't know or really care about her dreams. He had dreams of his own, and many of them involved that blonde-haired vixen naked and writhing with pleasure beneath him. Getting the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched, Deunan turned her head and gave a little smile when she saw him standing there watching her. "Hey Chris," she said, closing her book, "need something?"

A crooked grin formed on Baker's lips as he walked in and pulled up a chair besides her, straddling the back of it. "As a matter of fact, I do," he said, his voice seductive and playful.

Deunan giggled a little, and fought back a blush. He was no Briareos, but he was cute. "And what would that be, Mr. Baker?" she asked, with a shy smile.

"There's a party tonight, just outside the city, and I need a date," he said, tilting the chair closer to her, his fingertips lazily grazing over her forearm.

She shivered at his touch, her heart beating hard against her ribs. What should she do? Actually going out with Chris Baker had never been her goal, but seeing as Briareos wasn't likely to fall for her any time soon, she thought maybe Baker could be an acceptable substitute. "How can I help there?" Deunan asked coyly.

Baker laughed, tapping her on the nose with his forefinger. "You're gonna make me beg aren't you?" he asked, shaking his head a little. "Fine. Deunan, will you please come to the party with me. Pretty please." He gave her one of his most beguiling smiles, and she felt as though she would float right off the sofa she was laying on.

"I'd love to," she heard her voice say, although she was never sure whether her head had taken any part in reaching that decision.

"Great," he said, standing up and pushing the chair back a bit. "It's a little drive, would you be able to be ready to go in, say, an hour or so?" He looked down at his watch. That should leave enough time that they would be out before Carl and the team got back to headquarters.

Deunan had intended to get a good start on her final essays, but the thought of actually going out on a date was far more intriguing. With the exception of the times she went out with Briareos, and he was always quick to point out those had just been "as friends," this would be her first date. She nodded in reply to Baker's request, not completely trusting her voice to work correctly.

"Great, I'll meet out outside barracks in about an hour?" he asked, giving her a wink.

"Yeah," she managed to say, blushing a little, despite her best efforts to restrain it.

The barracks were empty when she got there. Jill was away with the other active team members, but Deunan really wished her friend had been there to give her some kind of advice or at least a bit of encouragement. She couldn't help trembling as she dressed, changing outfits four times, before finally settling on a green halter top and denim mini-skirt that had gotten her quite a few appreciative stares the weekend prior. As for footwear, that was the bane of her existence. She hated heels every bit as much as she had the first time she'd worn them, for Christine's wedding, but heels went best with skirts, and she was more than aware that they were the best for showing off her legs. She sighed and resigned herself to a set of three inch, black stilettos that she'd bought at Jill's urging earlier that year. In front of the mirror, she turned, admiring her handwork and wondering if Baker would approve.

Glancing at her the clock on the wall she saw she still had a good deal of time. Makeup, she thought, she ought to be wearing makeup. All she had though was a bit of lip-gloss and a tube of black mascara. She looked across the room at Jill's trunk. Her friend had let her borrow her makeup before, and Deunan was fairly sure she wouldn't be upset for her borrowing it this time. After all it was a special occasion.

Sitting up on her bunk, a small mirror propped up against the metal bar at the foot, and the contents of Jill's makeup bag strewn over the mattress Deunan went to work. She didn't have a lot of experience in that area, but it wasn't so bad. There was no way Jill's light base and powder would match Deunan's dark skin, so she skipped over that step. She went a little heavy on the eye shadow and blush, but she was happy with the result. In her mind she looked a bit older, and wilder, than she normally did. After applying candy red lipstick she took one last look in the mirror her head from side to side and smiling approvingly.

She glanced back at the clock and was startled to see that she was now ten minutes late to meet him. Hurriedly she stuffed Jill's makeup back into her bag and slipped off the bed. When she landed her ankles twisted a little in the heels, but she managed to keep her balance, wobbling her way to Jill's trunk where she deposited the bag and stole another quick glance in the mirror before she tucked that away as well.

Baker was sitting on the bench outside the women's barrack, and when Deunan emerged he turned to her and gave a wolf whistle, shaking his head in mock disbelief. "Damn, Deu," he said softly as he stood up and appraised her. "You just keep getting hotter and hotter."

Deunan blushed brightly and smiled. He may not be Briareos, but at least he saw that she wasn't a little kid. Not only that, but he liked what he saw; that made a lot of difference. His appearance didn't hurt much either, in his white button down shirt and dark jeans, with that perfect hair and the killer smile; he looked like he could have been a model. Bri was handsome, but he was rugged and about as much a pretty boy as Baker was humble. For years Deunan had thought that everything about Briareos was what she wanted in a man, but she had to admit, Baker was beginning to change her mind on that opinion.

"Come on, sweetheart," he said, wrapping an arm around her waist, "let's get going."

Briareos was having a decidedly bad afternoon. He crouched down behind an overturned table knowing that the barrier would hardly hold much longer. Standoffs irked him, and had this been some five odd years ago, back when he still wanted nothing more than to die, he'd have jumped out from behind the table and opened fire without any hesitation. As it was though, he no longer had the desire to die. The something that had always pulled him back in all his nightmares had materialized; that so long unnamable force now had one, although he was unwilling to admit it.

And so, he was hunkered down there; his mind quickly weighing his options, trying to find the one least likely to have him killed. On the other side of the metal-topped table, across the room, were three heavily armed drug dealers. Briareos took a deep breath, looking down at the pistols in his hands. Deunan had returned them to him the day after he'd called her out for dressing like a hooker, but even between that and all his bitter history with the weapons, they still reminded him of her. The look in her eyes as he'd watch her clean them was positively sinful. It didn't matter now though; she hated him, all because of one little gesture, one small retreat. He sighed softly one last time, shifting the pistols so that both were in his left hand. That was it; repress all those needless thoughts. He jumped up from behind the table, loping a flash grenade in the behind the boxes the drug dealers were hiding behind and took the second gun back into his right hand. A split second later there was a boom and a flash of light. His three adversaries dove from behind the boxes and the room erupted in gunfire.

By the time they arrived at their destination the sun was beginning to set and Deunan was convinced that Baker was in _no way_ an adequate substitution for Briareos. He was boring, _dear God_, he was boring. And conceited beyond tolerable levels. And perverse. And a bit stupid on top of all that.

As his truck pulled up to a large barn with many people milling around the outside, Deunan was about ready to call a cab, although she was relatively sure they didn't run cabs that far out. At least not ones that wouldn't cost a small fortune, so she took a deep breath and pushed back her disappointment as she climbed out the truck after Baker. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You brought me to a barn dance?" Deunan asked dryly.

Baker laughed at this, squeezing her in a tight one-armed hug as they walked towards the building. "Not a barn dance," he said that same goofy grin, "a rave."

Deunan fought back a sneer. 'Oh for the love of…! A rave? A rave!? Why don't I just throw away my application to the Academy?' her mind screamed, although she tried to keep her cool. Maybe this one wouldn't get out of hand, or the authorities wouldn't be alerted. A slim chance, but maybe.

"You okay?" Baker asked, then leaned over and kissed Deunan on the cheek.

"Fine," she mumbled, restraining an aggravated sigh. This was going to be a long night.


	12. Chapter 12

In the back of the SWAT van, Briareos undid the straps of his bulletproof vest, groaning a bit as he worked his way out of it. He examined the protective armor; three bullets were lodged in it. He lifted his shirt, his fingers tracing over the three tender welts. There would be large angry bruises in the morning, but he was lucky. Had he not had the vest on, he would have left the scene in a body bag, one of the bullets having hit very near his heart.

"Man, that looks painful," Jill chuckled, slipping out of her own armor.

Briareos shook his head, returning her laughter a bit. "I don't see how you managed not to get shot," he said, looking around the van and the other team members, two of which were tying makeshift tourniquets around wounds to stem bleeding. "You guys okay?" he called over the noise inside the van. They nodded; neither of them had serious injuries, both had only been grazed by bullets, one in the shoulder, the other in the thigh. It was a lucky break.

"Hope the rest of the night is a bit quieter," Jill said, at the same moment a call came over the radio, "SWAT, we have a 415e, reported 966, may be some armed and dangerous."

Jill let out a loud sigh. "Well, at least it's nothing major," she said. "Just sounds like a rave."

"Great, more stoned guys with guns," one of the guys who'd been shot said mirthlessly.

Briareos chuckled, "Well, you two ought to be happy, you both get a pass on this one. We'll drop the two of you off at the hospital on our way out there." Briareos reloaded his weapons, thinking silently. He was scheduled to get off in a half hour, but he toyed with the idea of staying on with the team for one more round. He was a bit sore, but he was used to that, and he could always use the extra money. If there was one thing he'd learned over the last few years it was that being one of the good guys didn't pay nearly as well as being one of the bad ones.

Inside the barn was hot and crowded. The music blared as sweaty bodies brushed up against Deunan's. In spite of her disappointment in him, she held onto Baker, not wanting to get lost in the teeming mass of people and lose her ride out of that insanity. The whole building seemed alive, pulsing with heavy rhythms as strobes of multicolored lights swirled around her. She had never really been one for crowds or parties, but she tried to look as though she was enjoying herself. After all, regardless of her sentiments about it, this was still her first date and if she ever wanted to have another one, she'd better not lead Baker to think she was completely lame. Information like that had a way of getting around.

Baker ground up against her, his left arm was wrapped around her waist, occasionally darting under the thin fabric to massage her slick skin. She forced a smile as his fingers drifted over the small of her back. In his other hand was a longneck, and as close as she was she could smell the alcohol on his breath as they danced. "Sure you don't want one?" he shouted over the music, holding the bottle up so she could see what he was referring to.

She shook her head. She knew better than to drink at raves. Even if she managed to find something that hadn't been laced with acid, she wanted to have her head about her on the very real chance that the police would crash the party. The only thing worse than SWAT finding her there would be SWAT finding her there completely stoned. "I think I could use some fresh air," she shouted back almost in his ear, her voice still almost lost in the music.

"What was that?" he asked, leaning his head a little closer to hers.

"Fresh air!" she shouted, simplifying her demand. "Outside."

Baker nodded and winked at her. Her mind vaguely registered that winking was overrated, but she let him lead her through the crowd, clinging tightly to his arm, both to keep him near, and to keep from falling over in her heels. Heels, it seemed, had been a decidedly bad choice of footwear, and had it not been for the fear of disgusting things on the floor, she'd have kicked off the painful shoes and gone barefoot.

The air outside rushed out to greet her like a breeze from heaven. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the wonderful coolness of it, a real smile gracing her lips. It was smile of relief, but Baker mistook it for a sign that she was happy to be a bit more alone. "Hey," he whispered into her ear as they walked further into the darkness. "Want to sit in the back of the truck a bit? We could catch our breath, look at the stars."

She wanted to tell him that she what she really wanted was to sit in the front of the truck and drive back into the city, but she reminded herself that her reputation was on the line here. She struggled to give him another smile and nodded. He grinned and took another swig of beer. When he turned away to look for the truck she took a deep breath. A long night, it would be a very long night.

Back in the van, after they'd dropped off the injured at the hospital, Briareos was deep in thought. He could use the money, yes, but he was sore and tired. More than that, he was lonesome. It was funny, how he'd never noticed when he was lonesome before he moved to L.A., perhaps because he'd just been miserable in general. Maybe he could patch things up with Deunan when he got back to headquarters, take her out to the beach. She liked the beach at night. Maybe they could build a fire. He smiled at the thought.

Deunan and Baker were stretched out on the bed of his truck. One of his arms was under her head, the other bent and tucked under his. He picked his head up a little, took a swig of beer and then rested it back again. He tilted his head, watching her as she looked up at the stars. "So…" he said, chuckling softly. "How did you like the party?"

She fixed on a fake smile again, turning slowly to look at him. "It's cool," she lied. Her eyes were beginning to turn back to the stars, when he leaned over and kissed her. Every thought she had erased for a moment at the warm, moist pressure against her mouth. Even his appalling personality and the horrible taste of beer on him didn't really matter. It was her first kiss; and whatever else was wrong with it, it was still amazing.

Then, however, the kiss deepened and Deunan was thrown back to the harsh reality of facts: she was with a guy she didn't like; in a place she didn't want to be. Mercifully, her cell phone rang. Despite his protests, she jumped up and pulled the cell phone out her pocket. Without reading the number, she said, "Oh, this is important. I'll be back in a minute." She seized the opportunity to quickly walk away.

She flipped open the phone, trying to use her hand to drown out some of the noise of the rave in the background. "Hello," she said.

A familiar voice came over the other end. "Hey, Deunan? I was calling to see if you were at headquarters, but judging by the noise in the background you're not," Briareos said, his voice betraying his concern for her.

"I'm out," Deunan said curtly. "What do you want?"

"Out?" Briareos countered loudly, the guys in the van turning to look at him. "You mean like on a date 'out'?"

"Yeah, Briareos, like _'on a date out._' You got some kind of problem with that?" she growled.

"Who are you out with?" he asked, his anger growing a bit at this. He told himself that of course he was angry, Deunan had gone off with lord knows who and god knows where. She could get herself into serious trouble. After all what did that little girl know about the wicked ways of men?

"If you must know, Chris Baker…" she started, but he interrupted her.

"Baker!? You're out with Baker!?" he shouted. Now the team members in the van had given up all pretenses of disinterest in the conversation.

"Yes, and if all you're going to do is scream at me, I think we're done with this conversation!" Deunan growled into the mouthpiece of the phone, angrily snapped it shut, and shoved the device deep into the pocket of her skirt.

Still glowering a bit she walked back to Baker, her ankles twisting now and then as she did. If anything, her conversation with Briareos had given her new drive to explore her options with her date. Something deep and sinister in her was glad that Briareos was disturbed to hear that she was out with the new recruit.

To say Briareos was disturbed was to completely understate the point. They were pulling up to HQ when Deunan hung up on him. For a moment he stared at the phone in shock, before angrily shutting his as well.

The change over was fast when they stopped. Briareos had made up his mind, he told one of the replacements that they could stay on standby, and informed Carl that he'd be staying on another shift. He didn't tell his commanding officer that his decision had anything to do with Deunan, assuming (incorrectly) that the man already knew who his daughter was with.

Back in the van, on the way to their assignment, Jill finally broke the silence that had fallen between Briareos and other members of the team. "So, Deunan's with Baker?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

He glared at her. "You knew about this?" he asking accusingly.

Jill held up her hands in defense, shaking her head. "No man. I knew she liked him, but she never said anything about him asking her out," she replied.

Briareos scowled when Jill made the comment about Deunan liking Baker and suddenly everything became clear. Deunan wasn't the only one infatuated. Despite his best attempts to keep their relationship platonic, Briareos had developed a deep desire for Deunan as well. Jill smiled a little, leaning over to him and whispering, "You know, all you ever had to do was tell her." Briareos blushed brightly and mumbled something before turning his attention to putting on a new bulletproof vest.

Deunan was back in the bed of the truck with Baker, her mouth working furiously against his. His kisses may have been fueled by drunken passion, but hers were fueled by revenge. In his mild state of inebriation, he mistook her anger for desire.

It wasn't until his hands began to explore her body that she woke up to the reality of what he was wanting. One of his hands clumsily slid up her bare leg, his fingers pressing up against the thin cloth of her panties. "Chris," she gasped, scooting back a bit. "Chris, stop it!"

"Come on, baby," he said, moving closer to her again.

"No!" she shouted, climbing out the back of the truck. She wished she had never agreed to go with him that afternoon. Everything was turning out rotten. Fighting back tears of frustration, Deunan wobbled her way towards the road. She wasn't sure where she was going, but maybe if she could get far enough from Baker and the rest of the insanity at the rave, she could call someone to go pick her up. Her options were rather limited, though, she'd just hung up on Bri, Jill was working a double, and there was no way she was calling her dad about this…

From behind her, Baker grabbed her left arm, pulling her so that she spun around, almost losing her balance entirely. "What the hell!?" Deunan shouted, trying to pull her arm free, but finding that his grip was tighter than she'd expected.

"What's your problem, you little whore?" Baker slurred angrily, clinching her arm a bit tighter. "You fuckin' put yourself out there, then you pull this. Goddamned fuckin' tease! That's what you are!" He tried to pull her in closer.

Deunan's wrath reached heights she didn't even know she was capable of. She put all her fury into a solid right hook. As she connected with Baker's jaw, she heard something crack, and he fell to the ground, unconscious. "Bri was right," she spat at him, "you're an asshole!"

A second later she jumped as the sound of sirens very near. The police and SWAT team had kept the sirens off until just as they pulled up near the barn and with her struggle with Baker, she they had pulled up completely without her realizing it. Her heart sunk into the pit of her stomach as she turned around and saw Briareos and the rest of the SWAT members hurrying out the van.

The first thing Briareos saw as he climbed out the van was Deunan, standing there in shock over the unconscious body of Chris Baker. His jaw dropped. "Deunan?" he whispered to himself. What the hell had she gotten herself into this time?


	13. Chapter 13

Deunan's eyes locked with Briareos'. She wanted to scream obscenities, to send Baker to the very lowest levels of hell for putting her in this position, but most of all, she wanted to disappear. Of all the people to find her there, right after knocking out the guy she was out on a date with, it had to be Briareos. Fate was not without a sense of humor, it seemed.

The rest of the SWAT team took their positions, as the police began calling over a bullhorn, "This is the Los Anglos Police Department, come out in an orderly manner with your hands up!" Briareos, though, ran to Deunan. Even behind his riot mask she could see the anger in his face. "Get in the van!" he ordered her. "And stay there!" Before she could reply, he had fallen into formation with the rest of the team.

Deunan sighed. There was no use in running now. She could have stolen Baker's keys and driven back to base, but she'd still have to face Bri's wrath sooner or later. She kicked Baker, but he just didn't respond. His chest was moving, so she knew he was alive. For a moment she considered letting him lay there, but as the ravers began to pour out the barn in a decidedly disorderly manner, she was a bit afraid that he may accidentally get run over by someone's car as they tried to escape. She wouldn't mourn the loss of him, but it would be a pretty nasty mark on her record. So muttering curses under her breath, she grabbed Baker under the arms and dragged him to the van. Pulling him up inside it after her, she dropped him unceremoniously on the metal floor of the van and plopped herself down on one of the benches against the sidewalls of the vehicle. She glared down at him; stupid jerk. "More damn trouble than you're worth," she muttered.

Outside she could hear shouting, but she tried to tune it out. She wanted to be out there, not with the ravers, but with the SWAT team getting all those stupid punks in line. She leaned her head against the wall of the van, wondering just how much Briareos would lecture her when he got back. The minutes dragged on; she peeked out the windshield of the van, watching as the cops made arrests and gave out citations. In all the confusion, she couldn't find Briareos, though she knew as a member of SWAT he was in the thickest parts of the crowd, working to gain some semblance of order.

Briareos was normally good at compartmentalizing, burying his life to work, but he was so furious he could barely focus. Damn crazy woman! He'd warned her, why didn't she listen? Why did she have to do things the hard way? At least she'd stood up for herself in the end; Baker looked like she'd worked him over but good. Briareos was fuming, but proud of her at the same time.

As he moved through the horde of inebriated people, breaking up fights and restraining people who were freaking out, he couldn't believe that even Baker would be so thick as to bring Deunan to a place like that. They had confiscated a few weapons, nothing really dangerous, but still. Worse than the weapons, though, were the drugs they found on many of the partygoers. Along with enough pot to satisfy a stadium full of Marley fans, acid, meth, and GHB were pretty much the standard order.

Something in him almost snapped when he searched a guy just a bit younger than him, who was there with a petite blonde. Inside his pocket was a baggie, containing a vial of GHB. Grabbing the idiot by his collar, Briareos slammed him into a nearby wall. "Fucking prick!" he spat at him. "Think raping girls makes you a man!"

From behind him the girl grabbed Briareos' arm. "Let him go, you bastard!" she shouted.

Briareos growled, turning around halfway and held the baggie up to her face. "See this?" he said. "GHB. The date rape drug. Still want to take up for him, be my guest!"

The girl turned her anger from Briareos to the guy that he still had pinned to the wall. She stomped closer to her date and before he had the chance to say anything the girl gave him a swift, hard kick to the balls. "Bitch!" he coughed, cringing. She didn't say anything but turned and walked off further into the crowd.

"Be glad it wasn't a female officer that searched you," Briareos growled at him as he pulled him off the wall and handcuffed him, paying no attention to the other man's pain. "We have another bastard, unconscious out there, 'cause he crossed one of our ladies."

It took a few hours to get everything under enough control that the regular force could handle the rest. He scowled at the van. God, he hadn't wanted the night to turn out like it had. He had hoped to patch things up with Deunan, but at that moment he was so angry with her, he honestly didn't care whether she was happy with him or not. 'Baker, goddamn it, Baker!?' he kept thinking, his fists clinching white-knuckled every time it crossed his mind.

Deunan sat in the back of the SWAT van, bored beyond telling. In between glances at the activity outside, she rummaged through Baker's wallet to entertain herself. It was a very enlightening experience. He had three condoms, no less than fifteen girl's numbers, and several hundred dollars of cash. She was sitting there, wondering if he'd miss a hundred when the back door to the van opened. Her head popped up, a bit sheepish to be caught digging in Baker's wallet, and found herself looking into a pair of very angry brown eyes.

Briareos glowered as he climbed into the van with the rest of the team. He eyed Baker's wallet in Deunan's hands and gave her a pointed "put that back" look. "What the _hell_ were you thinking?" he hissed.

"I was bored," she said defensively, referring to the wallet that she was stuffing back into Baker's pocket.

"Not what I'm talking about." Briareos stripped out of his gear again, wincing as he was painfully reminded of the swiftly purpling bruises on his chest. "What were you thinking, going out with Baker? Do you _want_ to be another notch in his headboard?"

Deunan scowled. "Notch on his headboard? No. I just wanted to go out with a hot guy who actually liked me for a change," she whispered back to him grumpily.

Fresh anger and frustration welled in Briareos. "Dammit, Deunan," he muttered under his breath, shaking his head. Stupid kid. He reigned in the impulse to shake some sense into her.

The other team members hung about behind Briareos, listening to the increasingly heated conversation, but not daring to enter the van. Drug raids were one thing, the combined wraths of an ex-assassin and a hotheaded police brat was something else completely. "What!?" Deunan said, her voice rose a bit. "Pissed with me? Fine!" She dug in Baker's pocket again, fishing out his keys. "Bring him back to HQ. I'll drive his truck," she growled, pushing past Briareos towards the back door.

Before she could get far though, she felt the keys tugged out of her fingers. "I'll drive it," Briareos growled, "you smell like a brewery."

"Fine by me," Deunan said with mocking rancor. She plopped herself down on one of the benches and crossed her arms as she scowled at him. "You drive and I'll ride here."

Briareos seized her arm and bodily hauled her out of the van. The other guys pushed back a bit, giving them space, especially because Deunan was trying to get her arm free from Briareos' grip. She considered clouting him like she had Baker, but she doubted the results would be the same, and so settled on glaring at him as she hissed, "What do you think you're doing, you goddamned jackass!?"

"We need to talk," he said firmly, dragging her towards Baker's truck and refusing to loosen his grip. When they got to the vehicle opened the door, pushing her inside. "Get in," he said, his voice all business. Deunan continued giving him a sour expression, but she did what he commanded, climbing in through the driver's side and scooting to the farthest corner of the passenger's side. Slipping out her painful heels, she propped her feet up on the dashboard and slouched down low, watching from the corner of her eye as Briareos pulled off his riot gear and put it in the king cab behind her. He didn't say anything, his mind trying hard to keep him from telling Deunan exactly what he thought of her and this whole messed-up situation.

Deunan broke the silence. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded as he put the last of the gear in the truck.

"I warned you about him," he said angrily, sidestepping the real question. "I told you he's an asshole; why don't you ever listen!?" He climbed into the truck and started it up, half wishing he could have just let her ride in the van back to headquarters. She needed to learn though.

For a long moment Deunan was silent as she glared out the window at the SWAT van driving ahead of them. "You know, when you first joined SWAT Jordan warned me not to talk to you either," she said. Her voice was soft, but it was full of venom.

Briareos shot her a pained look, but when he began to talk, he returned to his normal stoic nature. "I don't know what your damage is, Deunan, or why you're doing this, but you'll just hurt yourself. Your dad's going to have a coronary when he finds out you were at a rave, and with Baker of all idiots."

"You're going to tell Carl!?" she almost shrieked, her eyes pleading him to reconsider. If her father found out, she wouldn't be able to even leave HQ until she turned eighteen. She hadn't even thought the night could get worse, but he had just proved her wrong.

"Of course I'm going to tell him. You're a minor, Deunan. By law, I have to tell him. It could hurt your career, too, especially if you were drinking or using." She still smelled like a drunk, but Bri wasn't sure how much of that was just on her clothes.

Angry tears welled in Deunan's eyes. "I didn't even know we were coming here!" she shouted. "And I'm not a moron; of course I didn't drink anything here!" She brushed the unshed tears away, almost growling as she added, "You don't have to tell dad. I doubt he even noticed I was gone."

"Either you tell him, or I do," Briareos said firmly. He'd been hoping to patch things up with her, not end up acting like an overprotective big brother, but he didn't feel that he had much choice. She was still being stubborn and stupid, and he couldn't take the thought that she might repeat the mistakes she'd made.

"Fine, I'll tell him," she grumbled. It would be better if he heard her confess to it herself, rather than being ratted out while she cowered somewhere. Carl may have been harsh, but he admired bravery.

She looked down at her hands, "So, earlier tonight, why'd you call me?" she asked the edge subsiding from her voice as she, tried to steer the conversation away from her all-too-obvious blunder.

"I was getting off work, wanted to see if you wanted to go to the beach," Briareos admitted softly. He didn't look at her, but watched the road, his expression unchanged.

For a minute, Deunan wiggled her toes against the dashboard, thinking. If she'd have known there was the possibility of going to the beach with Briareos, she'd have never taken Baker up on his offer, regardless her desire to have a "real date." She replied in almost a whisper. "So why'd you come here if you're off duty?"

"I decided to go on this call when you said you were on a date with Baker," he said, face grim. In his head he cursed her for always bringing out that side of him. With anyone else he could have lied, covered his intentions, but with her he was often more open than he was really comfortable with.

It was lucky for him that Deunan wasn't really that good at reading him, at least when it came to his feelings for her. "Thought you'd find me here or something?" she said with a cautious smile.

Briareos shook his head. "Just didn't want go home and think about it all night." Damn her, damn her.

Outside the truck, the landscape was quickly turning into city as the L.A. skyline drew closer and closer. They were silent for a while, not really uncomfortable with it, just both wishing they had something more pleasant to talk about.

"If it's any consolation," Deunan said softly, as she turned to him. "I've had a really rotten night."

Briareos snorted a little. "Me, too. Got shot, then found you at a rave." How was it she could manage to make him happy even when he was pissed off with her?

"You got shot?" Deunan said, looking up at him again, her eyes full of concern. "When did you get shot?" Her eyes roved over his body, looking for obvious bandaging, but found none.

"Three times in the chest. If I didn't have on a vest I would've gone home in a bag." Briareos was driving and didn't particularly want to show her the welts that were probably a vivid purple by now. Glancing over to her, he rolled his eyes at her alarm. "I've had worse," he muttered.

"I wonder if Baker woke up yet?" Deunan mused, almost to herself, as she looked at the van far ahead of them. She wondered if her dad would be pissed off that she'd injured one of his team members. She had been defending herself; that had to count for something.

Briareos shrugged. "Don't care," he replied in a snarl, all of his anger back at the reminder of Baker. Questions filled his mind, but he wasn't able to voice any of them. Jill had said he just needed to tell Deunan how he felt, but he wasn't sure he knew how.

Deunan winced somewhat at his reply. "I guess we both got what we had coming," she said. "Both Baker and me. God, I'm an idiot." She sighed, all the weight of the mistakes she'd made in the last month crashing onto her. She vowed never to stay up at night fueling angry grudges again for as long as she lived.

He reached over and tousled her hair when she said she was an idiot. "You're young. You're allowed to make dumb mistakes."

She both hated and loved the fact that he tousled her hair; it was comfortingly familiar, but also a reminder that all this had happened and yet he still only saw her as a child. So much for making him jealous. "Yeah, well, my dumb mistakes are about to cost me my seat at the Academy," Deunan said, biting her bottom lip. 'Me and much dumb ideas,' she thought.

"Well, you weren't in the rave. You were in the parking lot when I saw you," Briareos trailed suggestively. "Did you drink or use anything? 'Cause if you're clean, you really only have to worry about a lecture from your dad."

Deunan shot him an exasperated look. "Do I seem stoned?" she asked flatly. In some ways she wished she actually were stoned. Maybe it would make the upcoming events a bit more amusing, at least as they were happening.

"No, but you smell like booze," Briareos pointed out.

Deunan held her shirt away from her body a bit. "Yeah, well that's compliments of Mr. Baker. Sloppy fucking drunk," she grumbled. While they had been rolling around the bed of the truck he'd spilled beer on her, and she realized the smell of it must still be thick on her.

Briareos nodded. "And you probably broke his jaw, too, so that'll be bonus points with your dad." He couldn't help the swell of pride he felt when he remembered seeing Deunan standing over the unconscious and slightly battered Baker.

"He kept trying to touch me," she said, crinkling her nose with a disgusted shiver. "He... I just wanted him to leave me alone."

Despite his anger with Baker, he found himself smiling at Deunan. "Good for you! Your dad'll be proud. I sure as hell am. I was worried you'd go all the way to get back at me and get hurt by him."

She watched as the van made the turn off to the hospital and she wondered exactly how Baker was doing. "That was kind of the plan," she mumbled softly, "at first, before I got to know him. I... I figured because you didn't... you'd never..." A tear rolled down her cheek and she brushed it aside angrily, ashamed that she'd said so much.

Briareos glanced at her and was hit with a wave of panic when he realized she was crying. Damn it! "No, that's not it," he assured her. "You're still a minor, that's the only reason." They'd finally made it back to base. Briareos parked Baker's truck and tucked the keys under the floor mat, leaving the passenger's side unlocked. "I've got to finish this shift. Go talk to your dad." He grabbed his gear and headed out, glad to have made his escape. That conversation was rocketing out of his comfort zone.

"Sure," she mumbled to herself, "feed me to the wolves." She left her heels off as she made her way quickly to the barracks. Even the rough concrete of the parking lot felt better than wearing them.

Inside the barracks she changed quickly into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, sliding her flip-flops on and tossing the heels carelessly into her trunk. At least, hopefully, she wouldn't smell like she'd been boozing when she went to tell her father about the strange events of that evening. As she made her way across the yard, she wondered vaguely if word had already reached her father about her activities.

She stood in front of the door to Carl Knute's office and took a deep breath. There was no avoiding it any longer. She raised her hand and gave a determined knock.


	14. Chapter 14

The sound of her knock against the metal door was hollow and ominous, but that was nothing compared to Carl's gravely voice responding, "Come in." Deunan steeled her nerves and walked in, closing the door behind her. For as well ordered as he kept the rest of the headquarters, Carl's office had always been cluttered disarray. He looked up at Deunan, his sharp eyes reading her, but she didn't flinch. Regardless how afraid she was, she had learned growing up not to show it. She met his gaze and held it, only repentance showing in her green eyes.

"Dad," she started. "I've made a mistake. I went out tonight with a guy and we wound up at the rave the guys just busted. I'm sorry. I should have known better than to get myself in this situation." She stood almost at attention in front of his desk.

For a moment his expression was unreadable, a hint of tiredness, the only thing his eyes betrayed. The team had called in too, but hadn't said anything about finding Deunan. "Who was it?" Carl asked suspiciously. "'Cause I just got a call from the hospital that Baker was brought in with a broken jaw and he won't say who did it, just that it was a date gone wrong."

Deunan's face turned to mild shock for a moment. How had he guessed? She had been pretty sure that her father hadn't known anything about her flirtations with the recruit. "I'm sorry," she repeated, as she regained her composure. "I didn't mean to injure your team member." She fought back a shudder, hoping he wouldn't kill her for making the team another man short.

"Tell me exactly what happened," Carl demanded, though his voice was not as harsh as Deunan had expected it to be. He motioned for her to take a seat. "I need to know everything."

She obliged him, sitting rather uncomfortably on the edge of the wooden seat across the desk from him. "He asked me out this afternoon," she said. "He told me it was a party outside the city. I should have asked you. I apologize, but I went with him... obviously." She sighed. "And while we were there, we were kissing, and I wanted him to stop, but he wouldn't and when he grabbed me, I punched him." She was sugarcoating the truth a bit, but she certainly had no intention of letting him "know everything," as he asked. "Everything" was a bit too embarrassing. Especially the reason she'd gotten into this situation to begin with.

"Did you drink or anything?" Carl asked, obviously pleased that she defended herself so well. "And did the SWAT team bring you back from the raid?"

"No I didn't take anything," she answered honestly, glad that she'd had the foresight to change out of the beer soaked shirt she had been wearing. Otherwise he may have had her take a blood alcohol test or something like that. "And Briareos brought me back, in Baker's truck."

"So, essentially, this is a date gone bad that I can more or less pretend didn't happen." Carl looked relieved. "If you'd screwed up your opportunity to get into the Academy with this dumbass stunt, Deunan, you'd be running laps from now until you were twenty-five. You learn anything from this?"

Deunan took a deep breath and gave her dad a reluctant smile. "Baker is a jackass," she offered weakly.

Carl held back a gruff laugh at that one; a slightly amused smirk graced his lips of a moment, although his mustache mostly hid it. "Good. I'll be taking this stunt out of your hide for a week or two, but at least I don't have to do any formal report on it. Now get out of my office and get some sleep."

"Thank you, sir," Deunan said. As she started for the door, she hesitated, turning back to him. "Dad... I know you're really pissed with me, and I... I just wanted to tell you, it won't happen again."

"You're damn right it won't. You're not leaving this base without my permission for a month." Carl's voice softened as he added, "It'd be two if you hadn't broken his jaw standing up for yourself."

Deunan smiled. "Thank you, sir," she said again, and slipped out the office. It hadn't gone tremendously well, but it hadn't been nearly as bad as it could have been. She couldn't help but grin as she walked as she remembered the pride in her father's voice with his last statement.

When he was sure she was far enough from the door, Carl allowed himself a chuckle, imagining her punching Baker's lights out. He'd never really liked the cocky recruit to begin with, he thought, sighing at the mountain of paperwork he was staring down. He wished he could have seen that, it'd at least make the reports worthwhile.

Deunan took her time walked back towards the barracks. So it would be a month of limited freedom, she thought with a sigh, as she looked up at the full moon. At least there was the chance he'd let her go places, maybe, if she asked nicely. Normally if his punishment wasn't immediate, the severity of it lessened quickly as time went on. At least that was something. She kicked at the grass as she walked, until she caught sight of Briareos, sitting out on the steps of the men's barracks.

When he had gone to join the rest of the team, Jill had playfully slapped him on the chest while teasing him about driving Deunan back and had seen him wince a little, in pain. Before he could stop her she'd lifted his shirt, seeing the welts and despite the fact that he outranked her, when she ordered that he call in his replacement, he was only too happy to oblige. He had been hoping, in a small way, that Deunan would be walking past him when he decided to sit out in the porch light and clean the weapons he'd used on his shifts.

Deunan smiled when she say him there. Now that she wasn't worried about facing her father anymore, her mind replayed his words from the truck to her. "You're still a minor, that's the only reason," she heard over again, and she wondered if he had really meant that. Did that mean he liked her? That his maddening sense of honor was the only thing keeping them apart? Deunan walked up and sat down next to him, picking up a TDI Kriss. "Mind if I help?" she asked quietly.

"Knock yourself out," Briareos replied, not looking up from his gun. "What'd your dad say?"

"I'm more or less grounded for a month, but other than that, he's letting me off the hook on this one," she said. "He didn't even yell at me." She disassembled the submachine gun and began cleaning it. "Look, Bri, I just wanted to say, about the way I've been acting the last month. I... I'm sorry," she said softly, searching his face for his response, but he was stoic. For a moment she considered chunking one of the larger gun parts at his head. How exactly were you supposed to make up with someone who kept everything so well hidden?

She took a deep breath and continued, "I never really wanted Baker, not really. I just wanted you not to see me as a child, and I know I've messed it all up, but I wanted you to see me, I don't know, the way you saw the other women." Well, that wasn't exactly right, but her vocabulary wasn't working as well as it should have. As her fingers nimbly worked over the pieces of his weapon, something in her subconscious screamed that in truth she wanted nothing less than him to not ever lust for another woman again. She glanced up at him, irked by his lack of eye contact, his lack of emotion. She waited as the seconds turned into silent minutes.

Finally, he spoke, voice low and measured. "I do see you, Deunan. We just have to wait."

"Wait? Wait for what?" she demanded, her breath catching a little as she tried to embrace the reality that he may actually feel for her what she did for him all those years. Suddenly, the couple of feet between them seemed like a vast gulf, and she wanted nothing more than to cross it, but she sat still. Her body was trembling, and try as she could she couldn't keep her fingers from fumbling over the piece she was cleaning. Frustrated, she lowered her hands into her lap, still gripping the half cleaned part.

"Until you're legal," Bri replied enigmatically. It had been earlier that year when he looked up California's age of consent law. He had tried to convince himself that he was just curious, that it would help with his job, even though SWAT rarely handled anything dealing with carnal knowledge of juveniles, disregarding a few cases of prostitution a year. He had strenuously ignored the fact that when they went to the beach now, her bikini top was filled in by small but very beautiful breasts that just screamed for his eyes and hands to hold them. God, he felt like a pervert; even worse now that he realized he'd been unconsciously counting down the months until she was eighteen.

"Wait," Deunan said, her eyes a bit wide with shock although she was trying to keep her cool. "Since when did you even like me?" She couldn't help but grin, because although he was still not looking at her, he had an adorably uncomfortable look about him.

Briareos shook his head. "I've always been fond of you, it's just sorta... turned into like, not too long ago." He grimaced slightly, before quickly reassembling his rifle; that sounded so much lamer when he said it out loud, and it only made it worse that Deunan had burst into laughter. Looking at her sternly, Briareos gestured for her to keep it down, nodding his head back toward the barrack, to inform her that there were guys trying to sleep in there.

" 'Sorta turned into like'?" Deunan snorted. "It was the cutoffs, wasn't it?" she teased, trying to take a little of the mitigate some of the oddity of the situation.

Briareos shook his head. "It was long before that." Damn, if the last statement had been lame, that one had just been plain dumb. Why did she always do that to him?

Deunan looked at him skeptically, and resisted the urge to remind him that if it was long before something that happened a month ago, he'd in fact been harboring feelings for her for a long time, contrary to his first statement on the matter. "You're great at hiding things," she mumbled as she closely examined the piece she was cleaning. She kept her eyes down, hoping that the heat of her cheeks wouldn't show up in the yellow glow of the outdoor lights.

Briareos smirked. "When those things can get me arrested, yeah," he agreed. There was little good trying to hide things now; anyway it would just be 15 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days before she was eighteen. He face-palmed when he realized he had it pinned down to the day. Had he believed in it, he would have sworn he could feel the fires of hell beneath his feet.

"You know you can only get arrested if you have sex with me," she said turning to sound casual as though she was still focusing on cleaning the weapon. "And if I'd have known you liked me, this whole Baker fiasco would have been completely avoided." She resisted the urge to add, "So you kind of owe me," but gave him a pointed look that said it loudly enough.

"And exactly how long after you found out I found you attractive would you start trying to seduce me?" Briareos shot back. Deunan giggled.

"Oh, I guess about five seconds," she said with an evil grin. "But, if memory serves me correctly, you've never had a problem with temptation." She chuckled, thinking of all the thwarted attempts of other women in that area; some by her hands, some by his.

Briareos shot her a look that clearly stated, "the others weren't you," but he remained silent.

Deunan smiled even brighter at that look. "Sooo," she said, her voice turning silky. "Just how long is 'long before that'?"

Briareos shook his head. "I've told you too much as it is." Glad that he had sidestepped that one, because he just knew that even to Deunan's unorthodox mind, telling her that he'd been plagued by those feelings since she was thirteen would be creepy. Hell, it disturbed him, and it took a lot to rattle his mind.

"Always mysterious," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's not likely as long as I've been after you, though. I think it was that first time you took me to the beach. Yeah, it was about then." She remembered the jealousy she'd felt watching him watch the teenaged girls.

Briareos focused on cleaning, not responding to her comment. At least she had liked him first, he thought, though that was little consolation. Maybe he should have tried harder with his girlfriends. No matter how hard he'd tried, though, it had been almost impossible for him to strike the balance between the man he'd been and the one he was trying to be to honor Demeter's memory. The only woman, well, girl that he'd been able to behave naturally around was Deunan and, for the life of him, he couldn't understand why. Maybe it had to do with the fact that when he'd met her she was way too young to be attracted to. That sounded like a good theory to him.

"What do we do now?" she said softly as she put the gun back together. It wasn't as though they could go back to the way things were before, not now that all this had been revealed.

Briareos wasn't sure, honestly. He'd been hoping to keep things under wraps a bit longer, 15 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days longer, to be painfully exact. He shrugged and tried not to look at her, knowing he was walking a fine line and afraid she'd be furious no matter what he said.

Deunan laid the gun down and stared at him. "You know, it's true what I said before; as long as we don't have sex you can't get in trouble. Not only that, but only my dad or I could have you arrested even if we did do anything." She waited for a moment, hoping he'd at least make some kind of response.

For a moment, he was silent, mulling over what she'd said. That was more tempting than he'd ever let on. "I still don't want to risk it," Briareos replied softly. "You'll be going to the Academy soon, Deunan. I don't want to do anything that could jeopardize your career."

"How could this jeopardize my career?" she asked, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "I'd be willing to bet 90 of the guys at the Academy are dating, and I mean, it's not like we never go out as it is. Wait... You're not going to stop taking me out, are you?" That was a horrifying thought.

Briareos shook his head, with a chuckle at her distraught expression. "We can keep doing stuff together," he replied. It would be difficult to keep things platonic now, but he felt that denying her that would be punishment for both of them.

Deunan smiled. "Good," she said. "Cause I figure after word about Baker's jaw gets out, I won't be getting too many other offers."

Briareos laughed out loud at that, reaching over and ruffling her hair. "Oh, I don't know, most of the guys don't like Baker much. Maybe someone closer to your own age might take you on a date or two before you leave," he suggested, as much as he hated the idea, in the end it may be better for her than getting stuck with someone like him.

Deunan scowled. "I think I've had enough of guys my age, thank you very much," she said, "unless of course you're hoping I run off with another jackass to some sort of illegal activity. I mean there are always still orgies and ritual animal sacrifices left to try."

Briareos rolled his eyes. "I hope you're smart enough not to repeat tonight's mistake."

"I was being sarcastic," she said, sticking her tongue out at him. "Orgies and animal sacrifices, really," she mumbled, shaking her head. "No, I can honestly say I think that will be my last time on that side of a rave raid."

"Good. Your dad really will kill you if you do something like that again." Briareos gathered up his cleaned guns, heading inside with his cargo.

"Yeah, goodnight," she called him just before he got into the barracks. 'So much for romance,' she thought as she turned to head back to the women's building.

Briareos halted in the doorway, looking back at her. "Goodnight," he replied as an afterthought.

Deunan took a deep breath, her shoulders sagging a little as she let it out, but she waved back to him. Why did she have to fall for someone so dense?


	15. Chapter 15

Deunan was hanging around the parking lot waiting for the SWAT team to get back from their latest call. Carl had told her that they would be back in a few hours, but checking her cell phone she realized she been waiting out there for two hours already. She sighed and lay out across the hood of Briareos' car. It always irked him when she did that, afraid she'd scratch the black paint. She was wearing soft, purple running shorts and a tank top, though, and figured that with the lack of buttons and rivets to damage his ride, he may be a little more forgiving.

L.A. had an almost constant breeze coming off the ocean, but today, the usually lazy breeze had grown to heavy gusts of wind. Deunan lay with her arm under her head watching the palm trees around the parking lot rock with each gust. It was only four days since her escapade at the rave. Baker had come back, his jaw wired shut and a bit less cocky. Deunan smirked as she thought of the wide berth he'd cut her that morning during PT. To her surprise, Briareos had been right about the other guys liking her all the more for knocking some sense into the idiot, and she had actually gotten asked out twice in the few days since the incident. She turned them down, though. Briareos had said he liked her, and although he'd gone back to treating her exactly as he had before they'd made their confessions, she was sure that that was all for show.

In the distance, she heard the slight rumble of the SWAT van and she sat up, waiting for them to pull to a stop near the garage at the far end of the parking lot before she climbed off the hood of Briareos' car and went to greet him. She had worked up the nerve to ask Carl permission to go out to the beach that evening, and to her surprise, he had allowed it, even when she told him she'd be asking Briareos to go with her. Carl had only given a gruff chuckle and said, "You can go if he wants to go with you." That was close enough to permission for her. The team members were climbing out the van, stretching sore muscles and making their way to their own vehicles or to the main building to file reports, depending on their rank. Briareos was one of the last to exit the van, followed by Verund and a hostage negotiator named Lyons, who worked with SWAT from time to time. This last mission had involved a hostage standoff, and had lasted three days. The time and stress clearly showed on Briareos' face as Deunan approached him, though he tried to hide it.

"Hey, how'd it go?" she asked, trying to sound happier than she felt. So this was why Carl had given her permission, he knew Briareos would be too dead on his feet to take her anywhere that night.

Briareos grumbled, "Not good," and started to pull his gear out of the back of the van. Unconsciously he rubbed his bruised chest. He'd gotten shot again, damn it, and moving was painful. Behind him Verund called out, "See you later, man. Tell Carl I'll file my report tomorrow."

"Tiff's got you tied to the apron strings," Briareos joshed, grimacing a little as he shouldered his bag.

Verund shrugged, turning to walk to his car, but called back over his shoulder, "I'd rather be tied to apron strings than a jump rope any day."

"Jerk!" Deunan called after him, but he just laughed and climbed in his car. She looked back up at Briareos, shaking her head a little. "You told him," she whispered a bit annoyed.

"No, you just did," he said flatly, as he started walking to the offices. He wanted to file his paperwork as fast as possible and get some sleep. Over the last three days he had only slept a total of about two hours, and those hours were broken up into brief naps in the back of the van. He'd been trained from childhood to be used to sleep deprivation, but that didn't really do a lot to ease the headache that always accompanied such hours. On top of that, each step he took was a painful reminder of the bullets that should have put him in the hospital or morgue.

"You got hurt," she said, more a statement than a question, seeing him wince as he shifted his bag mid-step.

"You could say that." Briareos' tired face was drawn tight as he fought not to show how much pain he was in. "You want to ask something," he murmured, seeing that look in her eyes. "Out with it."

"It's nothing," she said, trying to hide her disappointment that her plans weren't going to happen that evening. "You look like you could use a warm bed and an ice pack."

Briareos sighed and nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. Sorry," guessing that she had wanted to go out, or do something that night. He tousled her hair affectionately, as he'd done pretty much since he'd first met the precocious child. Not a lot had changed, really. She was still Deunan.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "I'd just wanted to go out to the beach with you. You know, to make up for the other night, but the way you're looking, you'd fall asleep before we even got there." It was true, even walking it looked like he was barely keeping his eyes open. "You know, I don't think Carl would be too pissed off if you slept before you started on your reports," she added, trying to steer his steps from the office to the barracks.

He stopped for a moment in front of the main office, considering her offer. "I have to at least go tell Carl they'll be late," he said, resisting the urge to simply go crash in bed. "I'll see you later," he added, glancing over his shoulder as he opened the door. He gave her a sleepy smile that she couldn't help returning.

"Whatever," she said, waiting for the door to close behind him before she rushed off to the mess hall. She emerged a little while later with an ice bag and a bottle of water, and went to meet Briareos outside Carl's office, but when she got there the door was open and it was only Carl sitting at his desk. Seeing her in the doorway, he looked up, and restrained a chuckle seeing what she was holding and guessing whom they were intended for. "I sent him to the barracks," Carl said, with only a glance up from his paperwork. "Hurry and you may catch him awake, but I don't want you staying in there too long, you hear me, young lady?"

"Yes sir," she said, turning and rushing out to the men's barracks.

Carl shook his head as he watched her go. "Well, she isn't a kid anymore," he muttered to himself sadly as he picked up another folder and started on the last of his reports for that afternoon.

At the barracks Deunan opened the door a crack and called, "Bri, is it okay if I come inside?" She was relatively sure there was no one else in there; the other guys who'd been on that mission had homes elsewhere, but the last thing she wanted was to walk in on one of the other guys naked.

Briareos had already taken off his shirt, assessing the damage of this latest mission, and was about to lay down when he heard Deunan's voice. "Huh?" he called back, not really with it enough to know what she was talking about.

Deunan took the "Huh" to mean, "Yes" and cautiously went in. As she'd expected for it being mid-afternoon, no one else was there. Bri had shut the blinds, and the light that filtered in through the green plastic gave the room an eerie look. Even in the gloom, Deunan could see the massive bruises on his chest. Her face fell a little at the sight. No wonder the poor guy was wincing every time he moved; he most likely cracked a few ribs. Going up to him, she handed him the icepack, her fingers moving lightly over the injured flesh. "Damn, you should have been icing these down before now," she said softly as her fingertips traced one of the older bruises.

Briareos shivered involuntarily at her touch. "I'm fine," Briareos grumbled a little, blushing at her concern. "I can take a couple bruises." These certainly weren't the worse injuries he'd sustained during his career and they would likely not be the last, either.

"I know," she said, smiling up at him, as she gently moved his hand holding the ice pack up to the newest injury. She handed him the bottle of water. "But, you'd be more comfortable without them." She shook her head a little, stupid men and their pride. "Take some painkillers and get some sleep," she ordered, and turned to leave.

Briareos chuckled softly. "Thanks," he murmured softly to her back.

"No problem," she called, giving him a warm smile as she glanced back over her shoulder. She left him, reluctantly going to grab her books and settle in the lounge to work some more on her essays. She sighed as she stated on her history essay. Schoolwork was so boring in comparison to the evening she'd hoped to have.

Saturday afternoon turned out to be a very lazy day at headquarters. Since the hostage standoff earlier that week there hadn't been any calls out, and with the exception of a lot of boring paperwork and training, Briareos hadn't had much to do. He didn't mind, really. At Deunan's insistence, he had reluctantly gotten himself checked out by a doctor, who curtly informed him that he'd cracked three ribs and if he wanted to live to see thirty he shouldn't make himself such an easy target. The news didn't really startle him, or the doctor's dire predictions, but when Deunan had cornered him to find out what the doctor had said he found himself sugarcoating his words. She never did learn about the doctor's assessment of Briareos' life span, and the three cracked ribs went down to one with a couple bruised ones. He wasn't sure why he lied about it; he just hated to see her worrying about him.

As it was, Briareos had a rare weekend off duty and although nothing was happening anyway, it was good to know that he wouldn't be called out at a moments' notice. He was sitting on the ratty blue sofa in the lounge, his feet propped up on the milk crates set up as a makeshift coffee table. Deunan lay on the rest of the sofa, her feet on his lap, as she read the last chapter of her biology textbook, studying for the online test she would be taking the upcoming Tuesday. Every once in a while she peeked over the edge of the book, stealing glances at him, but he seemed to be completely engrossed in a physics book he was reading.

He noticed her watching him, but for a long time ignored her glances hoping that she would finish studying, but soon it became evident that she was distracted. "Where are you at in your homework?" Briareos asked, glancing up from his book when he saw her peeking.

Deunan smiled sheepishly, but quickly regained her cool and responded, "Sexual reproduction. Want to help me study?" She shot him a suggestive look that made him roll his eyes.

"Not what I meant," he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. He wished she would be a little more discreet, although he knew going into it that that went against her nature. "Do you have time to go to the beach this evening?"

Deunan snapped the book shut, her eyes bright, and she almost dove across to the couch to hug him. At the last moment she caught herself, mid-pounce, remembering both that their relationship was supposed to be a secret and that he had damaged ribs. Blushing a bit she mumbled, "Sorry." Sitting back down, she smiled again. "I thought you had forgotten about it."

He shook his head. "Just had to wait 'til I had a day off," he said, carefully marking his page before he closed the book. Looking back at her he asked again, "So you want to go?"

"I have to ask Carl, but yeah," she said, bouncing up off the sofa.

"Good," he said, glad that she was at least thinking clearly for once. "Go ask your dad and meet me at the parking lot in a half an hour."

"What if he says no?" Deunan asked skeptically.

Briareos shrugged. "Then he says no, and you go back to the glories of sexual reproduction," he said, grimacing as he stood. Not the worse he'd ever had, but not very pleasant regardless.

Deunan met him in the parking lot a few minutes before the half hour was over. She had her bikini, flip-flops, and a towel tucked under her arm and she almost skipped when she saw him leaning up against the Ducati. "I was actually thinking of building a little fire," he said when she took his bag and started stuffing her things in it.

"No swimming?" she asked with a pout.

"You can if you want to," he replied with a shrug, "but I just kind of wanted to talk."

She couldn't complain about that, even if she wanted to show off her bikini she imagined cuddling up and talking with Briareos on an isolated beach would beat out swimming any night of the week. "So can I drive the bike again?" she asked with her sweetest smile.

"No," Briareos replied, stowing his stuff and climbing on his bike. He put on his helmet and handed Deunan his extra.

"Afraid?" she asked, putting on her helmet and climbing on after him. She had worn shorts and just the feeling of his jeans against the inside of her thighs gave her a thrill.

"Yeah. I paid good money for this bike," he replied, starting the engine and roaring out of the parking lot. He couldn't help smile, in spite of the pain, as she wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his back as they headed towards the coast; her laughter caught up in the wind.

The sun was just beginning to touch the ocean when Briareos got the fire burning good and hot and sat down on the blanket Deunan had laid out on the sand. He was close to her, almost touching, as they watched the sky change colors, matching the fire in front of them. "Sunset and firelight." Deunan said smiling at him. "So you do have a soft side."

Rolling his eyes, he gave her a playful swat. "Hush, you," he admonished, but he took the opportunity to glance at her, admire the way in that lighting her hair looked like it was made of gold. The fire made her profile stand out more, accentuating her pout of her lips, just urging him to…

He mentally shook himself looking away from her, and grabbing the bag. "Brought something you like," he said, handing her the bag. She looked pleasantly surprised and began to rummage through the knapsack until she found a brown bag with a box of graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows.

"S'mores!" Deunan exclaimed happily. She had been the one to introduce the Greek to campfire s'mores the first time they'd gone to the beach at night. She'd been twelve and it had been a bonfire for the various departments in L.A.P.D. around the beginning of December, just when it was beginning to get cool. It had been a deal to get him to eat the gooey mess that she'd presented him, but after the first bite she'd had him hooked. Although he swore each time he brought the makings of them that they were for Deunan, she knew he had a weak spot for the dessert.

She didn't start roasting the marshmallows, though. Instead, she glanced over at him, silent of a long moment as she debated what to do. He had said he wanted to take her out there to talk. Was that how he asked out other women, she wondered. "How're the ribs?" she asked, not really sure what he had wanted to talk about.

Briareos stripped off his shirt in response to show her his bruised, taped chest. "I've been worse," he replied. "Thanks for the ice and aspirin the other day."

Deunan winced at the bruises. She knew he could take it, but she hated to see him hurt. "Hey, I knew you wouldn't take care of yourself. I had to step up," she said, her fingertips lightly tracing over the bruises again. "I hate getting broken ribs."

"Me, too." Briareos sighed and ignored his shirt for now. It was still nice and warm out even with the gusty breeze, and though he was loath to admit it, he kind of liked Deunan's fussing, and the feeling of her fingertips against his bare chest sent electric charges up and down his spine.

Deunan took her fingers off his chest, turning towards the ocean and watching the sunset over the water. Moments passed in silence. "It's pretty," she said, searching for something more intelligent to say. God, she hadn't thought their declarations would change anything, but she was beginning to feel very awkward.

Briareos nodded, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close. Deunan smiled. Forget talking, this was wonderful. Her fingertips now made small circles just above his knee as the sun slipped further down, turning the sky vibrant shades of orange and pink. She rested her head against Bri's bare shoulder, the smell of his aftershave almost intoxicating.

Briareos just held her, chest aching, though not from his broken ribs. One hand rested on her hip, his fingers gently caressing her through her clothes. His other arm was holding up their combined weight as they leaned back. That was going to need to change soon, but for now, it was nice to hold her.

The feeling of Briareos' fingers thrilled Deunan, but it also called to her mind the events that had led to their falling out the month prior. While she enjoyed the feeling, she waited for the other shoe to fall, him to pull away, call her a kid again. The sun finally disappeared into the waves, leaving only the darkening colors of sunset in the sky. Deunan turned her head to look up at Briareos. "Perfect," she whispered happily as she nuzzled against Bri's neck.

Briareos smiled and pressed his face into her hair, kissing her tenderly. He was going soft, but he found he was comfortable with that. He did pull away then, but only to save his arm from giving out entirely. He stood and winked as he went to find some sticks they could use to roast the marshmallows.

Deunan sat in stunned silence for a few moments, blushing fiercely. It made no sense, a week ago she'd been being felt up in the bed of a pick-up truck and there had been no real excitement in it, but an innocent kiss on the top of her head made her heart flutter wildly. She sat like that, in a trance, before she jumped up and ran off behind Briareos. "Whatcha looking for?" she asked.

"Sticks," Briareos replied, handing her the spine of a palm branch. "For marshmallows." He leaned down and grabbed up another before turning back to her. "Still want s'mores, don't you?" Deunan almost melted at the lopsided grin he shot her, and she slipped her free hand into his, lacing her small fingers with his larger ones. He couldn't help laughing as he looked down at her; he was tied to a jump rope after all. Not that he would tell her that, it would just make her hit him again and likely re-fracture his ribs. So when she looked back up at him and demanded answers he did the only thing he could think of, he leaned down and kissed that perfect mouth of hers. For a second she was still with shock, her eyes still open wide, but that passed soon, her lids growing heavy and closing as her lips returned his affections. Every nerve in her body was pulsing, and although she didn't know it, her partner was experiencing the same sensation. Unlike Deunan, he was no stranger to passionate kissing, and yet this was wholly new. Never before had a simple kiss erased his every thought that way. No, not a simple kiss, a wonderful kiss, Deunan's mouth against his, her tongue brushing his as they stood in the gathering darkness, the wind wrapping around their bodies, pushing them closer together, it was all… flawless.

Too soon though, reality caught up with him, what was supposed to be a quick peck of a kiss had deepened into something he didn't want to break, but he suddenly realized that the beautiful woman in his arms was really only a girl; the underage daughter of his commanding officer, to be more exact. He gently pulled away from her, not wanting to hurt her feelings or earn her wrath. "Hey," he said with a dazed-looking smile, still fighting back trembles.

"Hey," she replied, her eyes dark with desire that he knew all too well. This would be a harder fifteen months than he had suspected at first.

"Come on," he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders leading her back to the fire. There were so many things they wanted to tell each other, but for the moment the silence seemed to fit best of all, and so they sat by the fire, his arm still around her as they roasted marshmallows.

It was Deunan that broke the silence. She had just put another marshmallow on her stick and shot a concerned look at Briareos' flaming marshmallow. "I think it's done," she said, giggling as he took it pulled it a little farther from the fire. It was covered in blue flames, bubbling and oozing black. He turned it a little admiringly.

"You think?" he asked with a smirk, watching as it burnt down to ash before putting another marshmallow on the stick and repeating the process. He was enjoying burning them far more than toasting and eating them.

Deunan laughed at him. "And Dad says I can't cook," she said. Every once in a long while it was almost like Briareos was turned into a little boy, and watching him burn marshmallows was one of those moments. Her marshmallow only wound up half-burnt, so she was happy. She put it on top of a graham cracker them covered them with a piece of chocolate bar and held it to Briareos' lips. "Ought to eat at least one," she giggled.

Briareos obliged her, amused. "They're not bad, but more fun to burn," he replied once he could talk again. A little bit of chocolate stayed on his bottom lip and Deunan grinned as she reached up and gently wiped it away with her forefinger, lingering of a moment the downward curve of his lip, contemplating kissing him again, when she took her finger and brought it to her lips, sucking the chocolate off. Briareos shivered, wondering if she knew exactly what that gesture reminded him of, but greatly hoping she was still inexperienced in that particular area.

"Typical guy," Deunan scoffed, starting up another marshmallow roasting just as Briareos' latest one burst into flames. She rested her head against his shoulder. "Thanks for taking me here," she said softly. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had such a good time.

"You're welcome." Briareos kissed the top of her head again as he wrapped an arm around her waist. He could get used to holding her like this. He tossed his stick with the marshmallow into the fire and pulled gently pulled her back. She smiled, shaking her head a little, before she threw her own stick into the flame and lay back on the blanket with him. Her head rested against his chest, the rough stubble of his jaw prickling at the top of her forehead. He looked down at her, his fingers lazily playing with the blonde spikes of her hair. He never would have imagined all those years ago that one day he'd be lying out on an American beach with a woman he actually loved lying in his arms. "Love?" he thought, surprised by his sentiment. He was fond of her, but he didn't love her. No, this wasn't love, just a physical response to the affections of a beautiful young girl, nothing more.

He looked up at the few stars that still shown through the light pollution of the city. "Pity there aren't more of them," he said absently.

"More of what?" she asked looking up.

"Stars. You can't see them here," he said pointing up to the sky lazily.

Deunan nodded. "When we were younger, before mom died, Jordan used to get Dad to take us out camping some times. One time we went out into the desert, and God, it was beautiful at night. Nothing but stars from horizon to horizon." She reached up, her arm making a slow arch from east to west trying to describe the vastness of the sky in her memory. Briareos nodded, he'd seen skies like the one she described, slept under them.

"Have you ever seen the aurora borealis?" he asked.

Deunan shook her head. "Never been that far north," she said.

"I think you'd like it," he said softly. "It's beautiful."

"Maybe one day you can take me up to Alaska," she teased, smiling up at him.

He looked down at her and grinned. "Maybe," he said, and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "For now, though, I think I'd better bring you back home."

"Already?" Deunan asked with a pout, wondering if maybe she could find a way to distract him and get him to stay longer.

"I want to stay on your dad's good side," he said, not really wanting to get up just yet.

"Well, given that he lets me go out with you all the time, I'm pretty sure you're in no danger of falling out of his favor," she said, nestling against him.

"We understand each other," he said, shrugging a bit. Deunan nodded. It made sense; they were both pretty sensible men, ones who liked simplicity and held strict codes of conduct. The fact that she was there, lying in Briareos' arms surprised her more than a little.

"Even about us?" she asked, as she watched her fingers run up and down his chest.

"I think so," he replied softly. "Don't want to push it, but I'm pretty sure he approves. Don't you think?" She nodded. He never talked to her about such things outright, but she knew he was much more lenient with her and Briareos than he'd have been had she been dating someone he didn't like.

He brought a hand under her chin and gently brought her face up to look at him. "We really ought to go," he said softly, tilting his head a bit to kiss her lips again. Her lips were still sweet from the s'mores and soft beneath his.

"You're not very convincing," Deunan whispered into the kiss.

"Should I try harder?" he asked teasingly.

"No," she said, and gently bit his bottom lip. He trembled again, making Deunan laugh. "I never guessed you'd have shuddered as much as you do," she whispered into his ear, biting at the lobe.

"And I never guessed you were a biter," he chuckled; loving everything she was doing to him. He wanted nothing more than to continue in the direction they were headed; to take her there on the beach in the firelight, but he knew he couldn't let that happen. Regardless how much both of them wanted it, she was still too young, and though the law stating that they had to wait fifteen more months was rather illogical, it was still the law.

He restrained a sigh and stopped rubbing Deunan's back, his hands attacking her waist with a barrage of tickles. She cringed up, trying to block him as she laughed. "Stop, Bri! Stop!" she laughed laying back in the sand as he sat with a groan and continued to tickle her.

"So, I'm not convincing, eh?" he teased, wishing he was watching her writhe with pleasure rather than laughter. "Come on, girl," he said, painfully climbing up and offering her a hand. "Let's get back home."

She smiled; reluctantly standing and helping him pack up. Watching him douse the fire, she thought back to the kisses they'd shared. His mouth was so warm and sure of what he was doing, a far cry from Baker's sloppy advances a week before. Maybe that wasn't a fair comparison, but she didn't care, she was blissfully happy.

Walking back to the bike he took her hand in his again. "We'll have to do this again sometime," he said pulling her closer to him as they walked through the loose sand.

"Soon?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah, soon," he responded, kissing her on top the head.

That night, they both lay awake, thinking long into the night. It had been a long road to where they were, and doubtless it would be a long road to where they wanted to be, but at least now they had each other. As they drifted off to sleep, for the first time in many years, both were perfectly happy.


	16. Chapter 16

Six months later… Six months later…

Deunan lay on her stomach on her bed in the dorm at the Academy reading over her textbook for the written exam for Tactical. In her mouth she held a yellow highlighter that she occasionally used to mark things she needed to go over again, and removing it to one more time, she had to stifle a yawn. It was only 4:30 in the afternoon, she shouldn't be so sleepy, but studying always did that to her. She glanced down at the black analog watch on her right wrist; the female version of the one Briareos always wore. He had been searching for months for the right gift for her seventeenth birthday when he had stumbled on that watch. It seemed too perfect, and although (or maybe because) he never told her where his had come from, she was genuinely happy with his gift. In all the years she'd known him, he'd always worn his, and looking down at hers now was always reminded her of him.

She was off daydreaming about him when her cell phone rang and startled her so much she dropped the highlighter leaving a yellow streak across the page she'd been reading. Leaning over the bed she fished around in her school bag, finding the ringing device near the bottom of the front pocket rather than in the compartment it was supposed to be in. The number on the front screen made her smile and she answered, "Hey baby."

"You get upset when I call you 'kid' but you're always calling me 'baby'," Briareos teased on the other end as he loaded equipment in his car.

Deunan laughed at that, the sound of which made Briareos grin. "So whatcha wearing?" she teased in her most seductive voice.

"Twerp," he said, shaking his head at her antics. She certainly hadn't made these last months easy for him. It was constantly a tightrope walk between what he wanted to do to her and what he knew he shouldn't, and her constant temptations made it all the more difficult. "I'm getting ready to go out on a surveillance mission. Can't really go over the details over the phone, you understand, but I just wanted to call you and tell you I'd be out the next few days."

"Eww, surveillance," Deunan said crinkling her nose, "that's no fun."

"Not getting shot at is a pretty welcomed change," Briareos said, shaking his head a bit at Deunan's action-seeking nature. Hopefully once she got out there she'd mellow out at bit.

"Still," she said with a sigh, "well, I suppose anything's better than laying around here studying."

"Finals?" he asked rhetorically. All week she'd been spaced out and stressed, taking the tests, and he was more than a little glad that she was almost done. He ought to take her out somewhere nice to celebrate when they were all over, he thought.

"Don't say that word," Deunan groaned. "Yeah, just two left now."

"Don't worry, it'll be over soon, then just three months at STC, and you'll be on the team."

"Will you be back for the weekend?" she asked hopefully.

"I'll try," he answered noncommittally. There really was no telling on missions like this one, but he was certainly hoping it wouldn't drag on too long. SWAT really only stayed on surveillance missions until they'd gathered enough information to conduct a successful sting, and luckily that didn't usually take more than three or four days. "Hey look, I'm gonna have to go. I just wanted you know I'd be out for a few days."

"Gotta go so soon?" Deunan pouted.

"Sorry, girl, got to work," he apologized, wishing he was already done with the mission so he could hold her.

"Well, be careful out there. Wouldn't want you to get a paper cut or anything," she teased.

Briareos snorted. "Funny little thing today, aren't you? Good luck with your tests. I'll call you when I get off."

"I'll miss you," she said, not looking forward to having to go without hearing his voice the next few days.

"Miss you too," he said. "Bye, Deunan."

"Bye, Bri," she said, waiting for a moment until she heard him hang up. Sighing she turned back to her book. "Well, looks like it's just you and me tonight," she said half-heartedly as she picked up the highlighter again and dove back into the boring reading.

The heat of the afternoon was just beginning to subside when Briareos closed his cell phone and turned back to his black Mustang to check that all his equipment was there. On top of the usual SWAT gear all packed away inside civilian suitcases, there was also a wide array of surveillance equipment. Stake out and surveillance may not have been as exciting as raids, but he hadn't been lying when he told Deunan he'd enjoy a break from being shot at.

On the other side of the car, Verund laughed. "She's got you well trained," he said as he tossed his bags into the back of the car.

Briareos shook his head as he climbed into the car. "You're one to talk," he replied, waiting for his friend to climb into the car before he started the engine. His Russian first marksman had fallen hard for a girl up in Seattle several years ago. Earlier that year she moved down to L.A. to live with him, and her constant fussing over him had provided excellent fodder for his friend's jokes.

"Actually wanted to talk to you about that," Verund said, growing a bit staid. Briareos looked at him with a raised eyebrow waiting. "How'd you like to be my best man?"

"Seriously?" Briareos asked a bit shocked.

"She's the one," he said, nodding a little as watched the scenery fly by. The hotel there were supposed to be staying at was across town, in the higher-class section of the city and as they drove the house and yards started getting bigger, more elaborate, and further apart.

"Just can't see you settling down. I mean; marriage is pretty antiquated." He wanted to add 'Why screw up a good thing?' but left it off.

"Hopeless romantic aren't you?" Verund said, rolling his good eye. "It'll make more sense when you get to be my age. Pushing 40 makes you look at things a little differently."

"Asked Tiffany yet?" Briareos asked after a long pause.

"I've got reservations to Marcello's for her birthday next weekend…"

"Swanky," Briareos said, whistling.

Verund smiled sheepishly. "Well, gotta do it right. One day you'll get tied down too. Shit, maybe even to that hellcat kid you're dating."

"Nah, I'm not the marrying sort," Briareos said a little more flippantly than he felt it. Marriage had never been, and would never be, part of his plans. He shifted in the drivers' seat, a little uncomfortably, resting his left elbow on bottom of the window and changed the topic to the safer area of the mission they were about to go on.

Olivia Lekes sat on the floor of her hotel room, papers and photos spread out before her. She ran her fingers through her long, blonde hair and stared at one of her surveillance photos. "Hiding in plain sight, Briareos?" she said, picking up the photo and sneering at it. His face was harder than it had been the last time she'd seen him; his eyes, more bright than fourteen years before, but his mouth, that hard, determined scowl of his, that had not changed, except in some photos. She picked those out of the array, and always there was one constant, a blonde haired girl, Deunan Knute. She ran her finger over the edge of one of the photos. In those, his mouth relaxed into a smile; a smile Olivia had never before, even when he'd greeted his younger sister, he had never been that carefree. She held the photo to the light and debated killing the girl first just to watch him suffer, but no, that was not the mission. She couldn't risk failure, risk having him escape yet again.


	17. Chapter 17

"So this is what the cheapest room in a five star hotel looks like," Verund said, nodding his head in approval. The room was large enough, and decorated with the same luxury that was seen throughout The Crescent and was perfect blend of classical and modern. Wasn't the nicest place either of the men had stayed at, but it beat the hell out of anything they'd seen in many years.

Briareos chuckled as he laid his bags one of the full sized beds. "Carl almost died when he heard what it costs, but you can't get much closer to LaSalle without actually walking into his living room." He looked out the window at Henri LaSalle's beach home, just about 2 hundred yards away. For a long time the drug lord that been hard to find, and had only made a semi-permanent move to the city last month. The house itself wasn't under his name, but rather that of his L.A. born mistress, Claire Thompson, whose father was also a underworld figure, the black market weapons dealer, Carter Thompson. In his past life, Briareos had actually had dealings with the elder Thompson, who was a family man in the fashion of a twisted Rockwell painting. He had a tendency, when making relatively safe deals that he would bring his raven haired little girl along with him. She was about the same age as Deunan, and the first time Briareos had met her he's been fifteen and working an extended job for the Japanese mafia. She hadn't been much older than six and had proudly displayed her father's wares, much to the amusement of his bosses. That had been over a decade ago, though, and both she and Briareos had not only grown up, but they'd also willfully changed their appearance several times at the hands of plastic surgeons. Minor adjustments for both, really, but he doubted that she would recognize him. Her husband, LaSalle, thankfully didn't even have obscure memories of him. He'd always despised drugs, and regardless what other types of scum he'd worked for, most of his business with drug lords had involved them dying by his hands.

Verund was unpacking the laptops, networking them and adding on the receptors. "Looks like they've got tight security?" he asked Briareos, who was still looking out the window, trying to size up the best way to sneak on the grounds that night.

"Not really," Briareos responded, turning away from the window to help set up the equipment. "Of course that's when you really have to worry about it."

"True," Verund said. It wasn't what you could see that was the problem, but what was hidden. Knowing LaSalle, he had the whole place under the highest security money could buy. Verund tossed Briareos a coil of wires. "Hook up that up to the hub, would you?" he said. "Hopefully the job will be fast."

Briareos nodded. "Yeah, I'm not too sure how long I want to be holed up with you either," he said with a chuckle.

"Bastard," Verund muttered good-naturedly. "Well, that looks about right." He flipped on the power, booting up the systems and nodding when they all blinked to life. "Ready to get the fun part over with?" He asked turning from the monitors and going over to the bags on his bed, and digging out his gear.

"You sound like Deunan," Briareos said. "All these years and you haven't gotten tired of getting shot at?"

"It's not the getting shot at," Verund said matter-of-factly, "it's the _not_ getting shot at."

"You ever thought of taking up golf or something?" Briareos asked, as he began to strip out of his civilian clothes.

"No doubt Tiff'll force me to get a membership at the country club when we get married, no sense rushing the inevitable. Anyway, don't see you teeing up," the blonde-haired man replied as he pulled his gear out of his bag.

"Yeah, but I'm still young," Briareos said with a grin.

"And stupid," Verund added.

Because they had to walk out the hotel without calling attention to themselves, the majority of their gear went under dark civilian clothes, the rest of it, that didn't fit in pockets or under layers, went into a messenger bag that Verund slung over his shoulder.

"Aw, your purse matches your shoes," Briareos teased him as they walked out the room.

Verund scowled, and locked the door behind them. "Yeah, laugh it up. But I got a beautiful woman keeping my bed warm and you've got… was it eight months left?"

"Nine," Briareos said darkly.

Verund chuckled and pushed the button to the elevator. "That's what you get for deciding to cradle rob _after_ you grew a sense of sexual morality."

"Sexual morality," Briareos snorted. "I remember that job we pulled in Sweden. Any guy who winds up with four high end hookers…"

The bell to the elevator rung and Verund choked back a laugh as the doors opened to reveal a couple of college-aged girls, who eyed the pair of cops over like pieces of meat as they stepped into the glass elevator. They may not have been prostitutes, but they were certainly dressed the part. "You were saying," Verund muttered.

"That I hope Tiffany likes that engagement ring you bought her," Briareos said with a sly smile as he looked out at the lobby as the elevator came to a halt.

The girls giggled a little as they walked out the elevator in front of the men. Verund cracked his knuckles, watching as the girls headed off to the bar across the lobby. "Ah, well," he said with a sigh. "Let's go meet our friend."

Olivia drove into the parking garage, her right hand resting on the canvas bag on the passenger's side of her car. After so many years it was finally going to end. There may not be much time to make these preparations, and everything had to be exact for it to work right. It would have been easier, maybe to just wait and shoot him. But he wasn't one of the KGB's most wanted fugitives for no reason. If she was close enough to kill him with a small weapon, this man, who'd been raised as a weapon, would most likely wind up killing her, but if she used a sniper rifle, she wouldn't be able to see, up close, his demise. That was what she needed, more than anything else; for years she'd dreamed of it. He would pay for what he took from her, and finally she would be at peace.

She found his car fairly easily; she shook her head. "Not discrete enough, Paieon," she muttered, popping the hood of the classic mustang and unzipping her canvas bag. Bombs had never really been her specialty, poisons were more her league, but again, there was that problem of not being able to watch his end. She knew enough to devise a simple car bomb, though, key ignition trigger, trip-line trigger for the hood and remote detonator just in case. Whichever way, he would die, she thought happily as her delicate fingers connected wires and circuits.

In the end she closed the hood gently. Smiling at her handiwork. Soon, soon it would be over. And when he died, she could finally be at peace; she took a ragged breath. He would pay, he would, and she would watch him. Her fingers trembled as she stuffed her gear back into her bag; her eyesight went a bit cloudy. She remembered going into the infirmary after the massacre. Finding her beloved dead, lying in a pool of blood in a room with six other dead men. She had left him in there with only one dead body. Only one, she thought as she shook with rage. A little girl that never should have been anything to anyone, an imbecile; yet as she knelt there, cradling the body of her lover she had looked up to find that the body of Demeter Paieon was missing. From the few survivors she had heard that all that death and destruction had been wrought by Demeter's older brother and the traitorous spy he'd been sent off to kill. Luck was with her; traitor was actually partnered with him on the mission he was currently on. She could kill them both in one glorious fire show. As she sat in her car at the opposite end of the parking garage she laughed softly at the thought of that. Justice would be sweet

Briareos was somewhat thankful for the advances in technology that made their job a little easier. The system they used only needed two base receivers attached to opposing outside walls and four satellite relayers around the perimeter of the property. He had gotten used to having to sneak into houses and plant bugs and cameras, not that he was complaining, but still, it almost made it too easy. The delicate instruments they planted would read record sound waves both inside the house and in the yard surrounding it. Sonogram images would be sent via satellite to their hotel room, effectively giving them a complete walkthrough of the entire house.

They had been stealthy and dodging the few guards and cameras, and had gotten back to the hotel unharmed. "Well, that was easy," Briareos said with a sigh as he sat at one of the computers and began tuning it to the satellite frequency.

"Hey, I thought you were the one complaining about being shot at," Verund said as he pulled off his bulletproof vest and plopped down at the other computer.

"Yeah, well," Briareos shrugged. "You ever get the idea technology will replace us soon."

"Nah," Verund said, as he ducked down to adjust one of the receivers. "There will always be jobs that need a human touch."

"I guess. All that A.I. crap, though, it comes close."

"Just mimicry," Verund said, grinning as the connection finally worked. He turned to Briareos. "In the end, humans and machines need each other, so don't worry about things you don't have to."

Voices came over the signal for the first time since it had been connected. It was LaSalle's heavy French accent, "You are sure, Précieux? This woman can be trusted?"

"Where the hell are they?" Verund asked, roaming through the 3D computer model of the house looking for their figures. Though they were harder to set up, he much preferred the old spy cameras to this maze of green lines that was supposed to form something meaningful.

"There," Briareos said pointing to two figures in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

"Henri, baby," Claire's rather nasally voice came over the speakers, "She's beyond trustworthy. And even if you don't trust her, " on the computer screen they could see her as she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "vous pouvez compter sur moi," she said, her voice growing slightly softer.

Briareos rolled his eyes. He was fluent in many languages, but French wasn't one of them, and that irked him. He turned to Verund questioningly.

" 'You can count on me'," he translated. "Wonder who they're talking about."

Briareos shrugged. "Maybe a contact, but who knows; could be anyone."

"Tomorrow we'll meet her at Barton's," LaSalle said, after a few moments passed, "and we will see."

"Barton's? The café?" Verund asked.

"That'd be my guess," Briareos said. "Looks like I'm eating good tomorrow."

"What the hell!" Verund growled. "I've got seniority!"

"But I've got the car," Briareos chuckled.

"Bastard! Should have known you have ulterior motives for offering to drive," Verund grumbled, turning back to the monitors.

"I'll bring you back a doggie bag," Briareos teased.

"What are you gonna do if they speak French?" Verund said, looking for a loophole in his friend's logic.

"Record the conversation and let you translate it," he answered with a shrug. "Doubt their contact will be French too, though."

"Still, ought to be me, what if they pass critical knowledge you'd need immediately?"

Briareos sighed; Verund had a point. Damn it, he'd learn that stupid language if it killed him. "Fine, you get Barton's tomorrow," he consented. "Just be gentle with my car."

"I promise to bring it back in one piece," Verund said with a chuckle. "Hell, I may even bring _you_ back a doggie bag."

"Speaking of food," Briareos said, grabbing a phone book and flipping through the menu section, "what do you want for supper? Sushi?"

"Um… no," Verund said emphatically. "Something cooked, anything cooked."

"Pizza? There's a parlor the next block over."

"It'll work. Beats the hell out of raw fish." Verund squinted at the computer screen trying to make out the details of the 3D mapping. "Don't stay to long at the Academy."

Briareos just shook his head and grabbed his keys of the edge of the table. "I'll be back soon," he said with a chuckle and handed the phone book to Verund. "Call in what you want, I'm not picky."

"Hey, demanding your food stop moving before you eat it isn't being picky," Verund called after him as he headed out the door. Both men chuckled as the door closed behind Briareos. Yeah, it was good to be working together again.

The parking garage was fairly well lit and mainly empty. Briareos twirled his keys lazily on his forefinger as he walked. Going to see Deunan was tempting, but he resisted. Maybe he'd call her on the way to get the pizza, though. It was crazy to miss the kid after only a couple of hours of not talking to her. His mind was on Deunan as he approached his car. He was about to climb in when something caught his eyes. Fingerprints, small ones, were on the edge of the hood. He scowled and walked around between the front bumper and the low wall of the garage. It was an unusual thing for him to go a few weeks between car washes, but he'd been busy, and a light layer of dust had covered the black paint. His initial reaction was to pop the hood, but he thought better of it and flipped open his cell phone. It may be crazy to call the bomb squad out for something so trivial, but life had trained him to look at things more harshly than other people would.

In the far corner of the garage, the breath caught in Olivia's throat. Something was wrong. He knew, but how? As soon as she saw him looking at the hood she knew she would have to make a quick decision. The traitor wasn't with him, and that was disappointing, but Briareos was her real mark anyway. In her fingers she toyed with the detonator. Her body trembled. "Can't… it's not…what do I do… what do I do?" she mumbled, her free hand pulling at the roots of her hair. "What would Artyom do?" she thought, tears filling her eyes. "He would have done it right to begin with," she growled, chastising herself. That statement steeled her nerves a bit, and when Briareos opened the cell phone, her path became clear.

Before Carl even had a chance to pick up on the other end, before Briareos even really knew what was happening, there was an earsplitting boom and a flash of red, then nothing but blackness and an unusual weightless feeling. It was almost like he was flying.


	18. Chapter 18

Deunan scowled down at the paper in front of her and ruffled her hair, as though trying to jump-start her brain. All around her, pencils were scratching diligently against test papers. Out of the corner of her eyes she scanned the classroom, sighed and stared back down at the paper in front of her. 'Hostage negotiations; it had to be damned hostage negotiations!' she thought as she glared at the essay questions that were plaguing her. Briareos had actually given up his last few days off to help her study for this part of the exam. All she could remember about that, though, was the way his voice sounded every time he had to remind her to pay attention. She sighed, and settled on just bullshitting her way through those couple. She figured she'd be safe if she just thought of what she'd do in the scenarios, and wrote down the exact opposite.

When the instructor called time she desperately added a couple words to the last question, but finally, his harsh gaze make her put down her pencil and trudge up to hand him the test. "Sure you did great, Knute," he muttered as she turned to walk off. She looked back and gave him a faint smile. She'd known Officer Hill since she and her father had first moved to the city, but it been a bit difficult having him as a teacher; maybe because he'd been harder on her than the other recruits as a way of avoiding favoritism.

The tight hall was crammed with students going over the questions they were sure had stumped them. Navigating around them, Deunan stopped suddenly as she caught sight of her father standing down the hallway a bit, looking straight at her with a face that told her to brace herself. She almost flinched as his eyes softened ever so slightly. That flash of compassion was never a good sign, she knew too well, and her mind could only go to one place.

"What happened to Bri?" she asked, trying desperately to hide the tremor in her voice.

He closed his eyes for a moment before he responded, both to gather his thoughts and as a way to block, at least for a split second, the faint look of terror in his daughter's eyes. "He's in the hospital," he said, turning from her to walk towards the exit.

She followed his lead, looking straight down the hall. Her jaw flexed to keep the tears from flowing to her eyes. "How bad?"

"Bad," he said, holding the door open for her. She caught his eyes as she walked past him, and in them all the blanks were filled. It was _that_ kind of bad. Even as her world crashed around her, she kept her feet moving forward. This was it. What she'd hoped for before she'd met him, what she'd dreaded since she'd gotten to know him, it had finally happened. She swallowed hard as she silently climbed into the passenger's side of her father's car. There were no words for that moment. Carl knew that and he didn't try to force conversation.

They rode in silence to the hospital. Deunan stared out the side window, watching as the buildings began to blur into each other. Had she believed in a god, she would have prayed, as it was, her will fought desperately against her sensibility. There had to be something she could do, maybe, maybe if she just believed hard enough… "No," she whispered, her father barely turned to acknowledge that she had spoken. 'Stupid,' she mentally reprimanded herself.

When they arrived, she followed him through the entrance. The main corridor split into two just after the lobby. Among other things, one led to normal patients' rooms. He turned the other way. Deunan bit her lip. This wasn't good. ICU, Critical Care, Cybernetics, and the Burn Center; they were all down the hallway he had taken. Briareos' current condition all depended which path he took, but whichever way, it wasn't good. She didn't even read the signs any more as they walked; she just followed him robotically, steeling herself for the worse.

She followed him up an elevator; down a hallway, bright with sky-lights; watched her father nod casually at a plain-clothed officer, seated just outside a set of heavy doors; and followed Carl through them into a small waiting room. Everything in the room was some shade of green, soft music playing over unseen speakers, and tropical plants sat on the tables and in free corners, no doubt to settle people; the large, red "ICU" printed on the far-side door totally ruined the chance of that, though. There was only one other person in the room. Even before he lifted his head from his hands, Deunan recognized the pale-blonde hair. She shot him a look of deepest loathing as she followed her father towards him.

"Any news?" Carl asked.

Verund shook his head, his lips hardening into a tight line. He had a few days worth of stubble on his cheeks, and a look of worry that would have softened the heart of anyone who hated him less than Deunan. As it was though, Deunan just glowered at him, her fists clenched. This was all his fault, she knew it.

Carl went to a phone on the table at the far corner of the room and dialed a number. "Yes. This is Commander Knute. I need a status report on Paieon. Yes. Yes, that will be fine. Yes." He hung up the phone and turned to Deunan. "Do you want to see him?"

Deunan nodded, not trusting her voice. In a way, she wanted to ask how bad he was, but something told her that no matter what he said, nothing would prepare her for seeing him.

Carl reached up and squeezed her shoulder before she turned to walk through the marked door. This may have helped, had it not been equated with so much past pain. Her mother's funeral, her brother's, this was a sign that there was no more hope. Her jaw flexed again, and she was unable to meet his eyes as she turned and walked away from the two men.

Behind the door there was no longer even the façade of comfort. A large nurses' station sat in the middle of a dim-lit room, surrounded by glass-walled patients' rooms. Behind the windows, white curtains hung in various states of closure. The whole atmosphere had an alien-like feeling of sterility.

A middle-aged nurse looked up as Deunan walked it. It only took a second for the older woman to assess Deunan's Academy uniform and realize that she must be there to see Briareos. "Paieon?" she asked.

It was so odd to hear Briareos' seldom-used last name, but Deunan just nodded.

The nurse assessed her again, her mind trying to find the connection between the teenager in front of her and the mangled officer in the room behind her. "He's your…?" She let the question float of a moment as Deunan found her voice.

"Domestic partner," Deunan half-lied, her voice sounded raspy and odd in her throat, like she'd been crying for days, rather than fighting in off for less than an hour. She vaguely wondered whether living in the same police complex could make you domestic partners, like out of those weird polygamist cults, complete with guns.

"What do you know?" her voice had a hint of compassion under all the layers of fatigue that normally made her short-tempered.

"Only that he's here," Deunan said looking around. She scanned the name plates for B. Paieon, and found it across the room from her, the blinking of lights from machines visible even through the curtain that was drawn across his window. "It's really bad, huh?"

The nurse nodded. "You won't be able to recognize him."

Deunan's knees began to buckle, but she managed to stand. "Will he know I'm here?"

"He's in a coma. It's difficult to say how aware he is, but we've had people pull out of comas and swear they knew their loved ones were there."

Deunan nodded and made a step towards his door, but hesitated.

"Do you want me to go in with you?" the nurse asked.

"No. No, I'm fine," she lied. Somehow she made her feet move again. 'You have to be brave for him,' she reminded herself. 'He'd do this for you.' It wasn't a lack of caring that made the blue-tiled floor feel like quicksand. No, it was the fact that for as long as she'd really known him, Briareos had been her fortress. Her father, he had almost always been strong. Her brother had almost always been protective. Briareos, though, had always been both. The idea of having to see him frail terrified her. The only thing that kept her moving forward was the idea that losing him without being able to say goodbye would be even more horrific.

The sliding door to his room was slightly ajar and Deunan slid in without opening it further. She stood beside it for a moment one hand on the wall behind her, the other on the door handle, slowly closing it as her eyes adjusted to the low light. The whole room smelled of antiseptic and burnt flesh. Deunan swallowed hard and took a timid step away from the door.

The nurse was right when she said that Deunan wouldn't have recognized Briareos. There was no way to. What was not covered in gauze, had tubes and monitors attached to it. All around him machines beeped softly, numbers and lines flashed, pulsing in an uneven rhythm. Deunan found a small clear path at the left side of the bed and inched closer. Even his eyes were bandaged over. She leaned in closer to the side of his face. "Bri," she whispered, her voice threatening to break. "Bri, its Deunan. I'm here. I'm so sorry I didn't come sooner, but I won't leave you."

There was no response that Deunan saw, no sudden spark of life like they showed in the movies. He just laid there, machines breathing evenly for him. A tear trickled down Deunan's right cheek that she didn't bother to wipe away. She wanted to say something else, to add that she loved him; that she would love him forever, but the words just didn't seem right. If he could hear her, she thought, he would understand, and if he couldn't, it really wouldn't matter either way.

She looked him over as carefully as she could through the foggy haze of tears. Although the covers were pulled up over his chest, she could see that there were limbs missing; awful empty spots were his legs and right arm should have been. Deunan closed her eyes for a moment, and tried to push out of her mind the disturbing images of what he may look like beneath those bandages. "What happened to you?" she whispered.

There was no response, of course. She wanted to touch his arm, to kiss his cheek, something to let him know she still cared, but she was afraid to cause him pain, and so instead settled for pulling up a chair through the small passage and sitting next to him. She closed her eyes listening to machines, which now seemed to have a steady beat. Her breathing matched time with it, each moment feeling like it could be the last one they would have together.

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She hadn't realized that she'd fallen asleep, her head propped up on her hands, her arms rested on her knees, until the nurse tapped her shoulder. "Honey, visiting hours are over," she said softly.

"I… I can't stay?" she said stupidly, as she rubbed her bleary eyes.

"No, but you can come back tomorrow."

Deunan nodded and leaned closer to Briareos again. "They're throwing me out, but I'll be back later."

There was no response as the nurse led her out, but the beeping of the monitors seemed irregular again, as though she'd only imagined their harmony before. The nurse didn't follow Deunan through the heavy door to the waiting room, but turned back around to check on her patients.

In the waiting room, Deunan found her father and Verund going over information on a laptop. "I want to know what happened," she said, her voice more even than she had expected it to come out. She directed her question at her father, although her she glared at Verund as though daring him to try and explain what the hell he'd gotten Briareos into.

"Three days ago there was an explosion," her father started, looking up from the screen for a moment.

Something clicked in her brain. She vaguely remembered overhearing about an expolosion at the parking garage of some swanky hotel while her roommate was watching the news a few days ago. They hadn't mentioned anything about an officer being injured. "At that ritzy hotel?"

"You heard?"

"Yeah, but not…" she wanted to add 'that Briareos was injured,' but couldn't make herself say it.

"I would have told you, but I knew there was nothing you could do and you had to focus on your finals." He hoped she would see the logic of that, but he knew she would still be mad.

"Sure," she said, looking back at the door again. More than anything at that moment she wished she were back there, next to him again. "What's the chance he'll make it?"

"I'm not going to lie, it's slim." Carl sighed and clapped his daughter on the shoulder again. "But he's tough."

"I know that," Deunan almost growled, her eyes not leaving the door. "Look, Dad, you just as soon go back, I'm gonna sleep here tonight."

For a second he thought of objecting, but what was the use? She was his daughter, through and through, when she made up her mind there was little that she would let stand in her way. He turned to the Russian sitting beside him. "Call me if there are any changes, and when Grant gets here, report back to HQ, Tobias said he could use your help with some of the evidence."

"I'll be right there," he said without looking up from the computer screen. On the screen, he was trying to enhance the surveillance videos from the parking garage.

When Carl left, Deunan sat down across from Verund and stared angrily for several long moments before her gaze finally caused him to look up. His pale blue eye met her furious green ones with a mixture of resignation and annoyance.

"Okay, out with it," he grumbled. "You want to call me a fucking bastard? Want to peg this on me? Go right ahead. I deserve it. Just make it quick, I've got work to do."

Deunan just growled at him and stood up furious that he'd taken a lot of the edge out of her anger. There was nothing quite like having someone giving you permission to run them over that made the whole thing seem a bit futile. Why shoot a guy off the ledge of a building? "What are you doing here, anyways?"

"Same thing as you, waiting to see how this turns out," he said, turning back to the horrible video angles. It seemed that the only images that had been captured of the would-be assassin were fractured, or shadowed. Whoever this was, they had had a lot of training.

"Well, I'll call you if anything changes," Deunan said, scowling down at a tall rubber tree plant in the far corner of the room.

Verund looked up harshly at her. "Look, little girl, aside from the fact that I'm here on security detail, I'm just about the closest thing to family Briareos has. In a couple hours I'll be gone; until then, you can either suck it up or grumble to yourself, I don't give a shit either way."

Deunan plopped back in her seat, glaring at him. "What are you doing on the computer anyway?"

"Work," he said flatly. Glancing up, he could see she wasn't going to let it go. "Looking into who did this to him. We've got a dozen leads, but none of them feel right."

She nodded, meditating on that for a moment. When she spoke again her voice was distant. "At least you're doing something. I got another month, at least, before I can do anything besides sit like an idiot and worry. I wish I could be the one catch the jackass that did this. There wouldn't be enough of him left to try."

"Hopefully he'll be awake by the time you're on the force. I think we'll all need him to talk sense into you," he gave her a half-hearted smirk.

"God, you are an ass," she said, slouching down in the chair and closing he eyes.

"I know," he replied tiredly, turning back to his work.

The rest of the afternoon was silent. People drifted in and out the room occasionally. The ones there to visit other patients were so preoccupied with their own worry and grief that they didn't bother Deunan, but the ones for Briareos had started to grate her even before Jacob Grant took Verund's spot as bodyguard. Grant was fairly new to the force; a baby face that matched his greenhorn tendencies in the field. A half hour after his arrival, Deunan was beginning to wish the damned Russian was back. At least he knew when to shut up.

"So you finally made it through the Academy, eh, Knute. Man, it'll be ten kinds of crazy with all you kids on the team."

He had been rattling on for longer than Deunan cared to estimate, although she'd tried to show her disinterest by hiding in a sports magazine; that comment, however, made her look up, disgusted. "Kind of like when you showed up and I whooped your ass on the obstacle course and the range, huh?"

"The base isn't the field, kid."

Deunan snorted and turned back to her magazine, ignoring him successfully until the nurse called her back to Briareos' side. Grant had gotten up to follow her, but she glared at him until he sat back down.

There was no change. Deunan knew it had been hopeless to wish for it. Right now, no change was good. 'No change' meant he was holding his ground; it was what was keeping him this side of the grave. She sat on the side of him again, listening to the beeping machines that would become her pulse as the moments dragged on.


	19. Chapter 19

_One month later…_

Deunan had run the block so many mornings that shop owners and regulars at the local coffee shop greeted her warmly as she passed by. "How's the patient this morning?" Mrs. Cabell, the florist called as Deunan neared her shop.

"Same old, same old," Deunan said with a strained smile. "I'll be back at lunch for some flowers. I was thinking daisies. Do you have any in pots?"

"Of course. I'll have them ready for you then. Take care, love," she called as Deunan started off on her way again with a wave backwards.

It was a rare, clear morning, the breeze off the ocean pushing the smog back further inland. The sun and fresh air did her good, as she filled her lungs full of it as she ran faster. At least it did a little to lift the dour mood she'd left the hospital in. Mostly, on these mornings the run did wonders to block out the anxiety she had about Briareos' future, but today she was thinking more about her own. The night before she'd been up past midnight morosely thinking of the way her life seemed to have come to a dead stop. She had already put in her application to SWAT, but it was still in processing. She was positive she'd get in, but Carl didn't want her living at the barracks until her position was finalized. Not being able to stay at the dorms past graduation, Deunan had moved most of her stuff to Jill's house, though she hadn't slept there one night yet. And so day after day, night after night, she'd been staying at the hospital. She'd never been a big fan of hospitals, in fact, normally she even avoided driving by them, but this was different. This was Bri.

After two weeks, he had been declared stable enough to be transferred out of ICU to Cybernetics; which meant allowed Deunan to spend the nights on the short couch in his room. When they moved him, Deunan had thought that they would have started with some of his implants, but that wasn't the case. At the moment, they were mainly trying to salvage as much of him as they could. It proved to be harder than Deunan would have imagined. The arm that had been there when she first saw him had had to be amputated because it had begun to die. The day they did that she wondered, not for the first time, how he would cope with the life that he would wake to. And one day a week ago, she had opted to stay in while the nurse changed his bandages. She had wondered about his face, a combination of morbid curiosity and a vain attempt to prepare herself for when he woke. Looking at his face was like looking at a skull: charred flesh shimmered grotesquely against the bone, which was exposed in some places; lidless eye sockets were void; his ears, reduced to small nubs over holes; perhaps the most disturbing, his nose and lips were also missing.

Since that day, she'd been trying to push the image out of her head. Each time it inched in, she felt her stomach churn, and all her nerves tremble. Never before had she thought of herself as shallow, but she had to admit, his face was jarring. The fact that it disturbed her disturbed her and made her feel like a horrible person. They had told her that they could fix most of the damage with extensive plastic surgery, but she worried about what she would do if he woke in the mean time. Not that she didn't want him wake up soon, she just wasn't sure that all her training had steeled her nerves enough to keep the revulsion out of her voice if he asked her about how bad it was. 'Damn it,' she thought, 'He deserves better.'

But where would 'better' come from. If she'd known any of his ex-girlfriends she'd have called them, but how would that conversation go over exactly: "Hi, yeah, this is Deunan. Yeah, that annoying little girl that coated your car in Hershey syrup. Hello? Hello?" or maybe she should just hide her own identity: "Hello, this is the LAPD; we understand you were once affiliated with an officer Paieon. Yes, we know that the two of you are no longer associated. Yes, we understand you don't want to speak to the bastard." She sighed. That wasn't an option. Maybe personal ads: "SBM seeking blind SF. Must have high tolerance for foreign movies and boring lectures." She gave a feeble laugh at that one. 'Well, if you don't laugh you cry, right?'

As she walked through the side door of the hospital, she realized, for the millionth time, that it wouldn't matter, though, if someone else would be better for him. She wasn't that self-sacrificing. In the end, regardless how he looked, he was still "her Bri." He was the man who knew her better than anyone else in the world, and for some unexplainable reason, still hung around her. He was the guy who'd been her best friend when she was a kid, her mentor, her confidant, and when she'd grown up, almost her lover. He was the one she'd decided on before normal guys had even turned her head; and she knew that it hadn't just been his incredible looks. There was something else there; she only hoped that that part of him hadn't been lost as well. Then this whole thing would be lost. She could take the fact he would never look the same, but the idea that he may not _be_ the same, now that was sobering.

She was still going over her mental tirade when she got to his room. She didn't even bother asking the nurses at the station just outside the door if there was any change. There had been _some_ change in those weeks, but not the kind she cared to dwell on. He was losing ground, slowly. That thought, that's what she had to fight the hardest not to dwell on.

First it had been his arm, which began to die about a week after Deunan found out about his injuries. They'd tried, futilely to save it She sighed as she sat on the bed next to his, watching the machines' blinking glow cast odd shadows against the gauze that bound the man she loved. What else had gone? She tried to remember; liver and kidneys, those had gone early; lungs, replaced by artificial components; heart…

It was so much, _too_ much and not enough. There would be more to come. She knew it had to be. For him to go on from here, there had to be more. He would not want to live like this, blind, immobile, and helpless. No one would, not when there was another way. She shuddered at the thought.

Another way; the only way, now, was cybernetics. An emerging science, imperfect and excruciatingly painful, most people opted against it for their loved ones, favoring death or semi-life to the horrors of harsh metal and nano-machines. But, this hadn't been her choice, or Carl's, or even Verund's; no this one she could blame fully on Briareos. He had been the one to sign the papers. She kept reminding herself of that as she skimmed over the voluminous pieces of literature his doctor had lent her one the subject.

Briareos had actually laughed at it himself when he'd signed up for the cybernetics program. It had been years back, when Deunan was still a gangly, underfoot kid, right after Jordan had left. The Newton Cybernetics Company had approached LAPD with its 'Life Option Plans,' which they'd described as a sort of an insurance policy against dying. It was only offered to people in the military or law enforcement, and came with a hefty price tag, prolonged life in exchange for Newton's ability to use the subject as a human guinea pig. Normally, that kind of thing went against his nature, both in wanting to prolong his life and in allowing someone else to control it. Even as he signed up for the plan, he'd wondered why he did it. It wasn't until years down the line that he finally saw it for what it was; Deunan, she'd given him something he thought he'd lost forever, the drive to keep living, no matter the cost, to protect her. And so, although he'd always been able to terminate the contract, he kept it.

Deunan stretched her arms back over her head, popping the joints and tendons. "So, watcha' been dreaming about while I've been away? Better not be that nurse who was here last night. I don't care how cute she was, mister." She chuckled, laying back crossways on the thin mattress, ignoring the crinkling of the plastic cover beneath all the sheets. Tilting her head back, she admired the windowsill upside down. There was a profusion of flowers and plants there, some with cards sticking out at strange angles, so that the whole area looked like some kind of Hallmark jungle. It would have been nice not to have to talk to herself, but honestly the idea of having to talk to him now terrified her more than the silence.

The door opened a crack and Deunan sat up quickly. "Yes, thank you, ma'am," Carl's voice entered the room before he did. As always, there was a strong authoritative tone to his voice, even in its pleasantries it was direct and slightly harsh. Deunan wondered if the poor nurse flinched, unused to his temperament as she must be. Or maybe she had to deal with asshole police commanders on a regular basis? Who knew?

She was on her feet when he walked into the room, and they exchanged a nod. In one hand, he held a thick manila envelope, but he said nothing of it, so she followed his lead, remaining silent.

"You weren't sleeping?" There was a tone of disapproval in this; like an accusation. Laziness was unforgivable, even in the absence of all useful employment.

"No, Sir," she said, fighting off the urge to say something sarcastic. "I just got back from my morning run."

"Good." He shifted his weight, glanced at Briareos for a second, then back at Deunan. He held the envelop out to her. "Be at HQ by thirteen hundred with these forms filled." And with another curt nod, he was gone.

'At least he quit trying to be comforting,' she thought, sliding her finger under the flap and tearing it open. She lay the papers out on the pale yellow blanket of her bed. Mainly they were the kind of bureaucratic bullshit she didn't ever take time to read. Flipping through the pages fast, she initialed and signed away her life for the chance to take the one job she'd ever really wanted.

"Looks like you'll be free of me a lot more now," she said as she put the papers back into the file. "Carl finally let me on the force. Guess you'll have more time with your cute nurse." Her smile was strained and sad. She'd been dying to get on, to be able to _do_ something, anything, to help catch the bastard that had done this, but now, for some reason, she wanted to stay. 'Stupid,' she thought, rolling her eyes.

There was nothing else to do that morning, so she ran out to pick up the daisies early. By that time, the wind hat died down a bit, but the sun still glared with all its intensity. Had it been a normal day, a normal day a month ago, she would have been bugging Bri to take her to the beach, he would have been complaining about how she wasted his days off. In the end, though, they both knew he would take her, he always did.

As she walked back to the hospital, she couldn't help think of the "what ifs" again, there were just so many of them. She took a darkened stairwell up, rather than going up the elevator. While it gave her more time to think, the flex of her muscles as she trudged up the metal staircase, with a ringing "thunk, thunk, thunk" at every step, took a lot of the flex off her mind and it's wild drifting. She forced her mind to focus on the concrete facts: Briareos was alive, he was still fighting, the doctor's were hopeful of recovery, if not the body, at least the mind. It had been his choice, she reminded herself as she neared the top of her flight, he had chosen to be a ghost in a shell had his body failed.

Failed. It was hard to associate that word with Briareos. She had never known him to fail at anything, to be bad at anything. Deunan tried her hardest not to focus on that, push it to the farthest corner of her mind.

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It was strange to be back on the base, and that itself was strange. Before she'd gone to check in she'd picked up her things up at Jill's house. Even though she'd known it had only taken a box and a half to pack, it was hard to wrap her head around the fact that all her worldly good could fit in her passengers' seat. She left both boxes in the car, not wanting to jinx her chances, regardless how good they were.

She kept needlessly reminding herself that this time, she belonged here, this time she was actually reporting for duty. It was surreal. She had walked those grounds a thousand times, but this time her feet felt slightly leaden. She remembered other recruits who'd made this walk. She'd often sat under the large oak watching them try to suppress their nerves and thought it was funny that they should be so scared looking. She had to chuckle a little at the thought that if any of them caught sight of _her_ at that moment that sentiment would have to be amplified a million times over. Why on earth should she be afraid of going in for a job she had wanted almost all her life, a job that was practically guaranteed.

She made her way to her father's office, a path she'd tread so often on the way to receive some sort of reprimand, usually for some prank gone awry. This time, though, she wasn't a disobedient child going to face her father. This time she belonged her, she was going to prove it beyond anyone's doubt.

The heavy wooden door opened with a slight creak. "Knute," Carl said, looking up from his papers.

"Reporting for duty, Commander."

"Your files?"

She handed him the folder. "All complete, sir."

"Good, good. Well, you know the drill: obstacle course, range, hand to hand."

"Yes, sir."

"Let's get started."


End file.
